


Beyond the Sea

by the_other_lutece_sister



Series: OrphanShock [1]
Category: BioShock, BioShock 2, BioShock Infinite, Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bioshock - Freeform, F/F, Multi, Orphan Black - Freeform, OrphanShock, Other, Rapture, Sestras, proangel - Freeform, propunk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-06-07 14:26:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 47,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6808909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_other_lutece_sister/pseuds/the_other_lutece_sister
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I started out imagining Helena as a Big Sister and ended up...here.<br/>Set in Rapture between 1958-1966.<br/>Sarah and Helena are orphans in Rapture, chosen for the Little Sister program run by DYAD Industries. Rachel Duncan is there too. A city at the bottom of the ocean! Ethically dubious science experiments galore! Sestras! Propunk! Dystopia! The True Triumverate!</p><p>All chapter titles are quotes from the Bioshock games.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beyond the Sea - Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Sarah has bad dreams and makes a decision.

_**Sarah - 1966** _

She still had nightmares about that day. Her hands had gripped her sisters so tight they felt like the bones would break. It hadn’t been tight enough. They had been torn from each other, screaming, men in white coats struggling to hold the pair of nine year olds apart.

Sarah jerked awake, still hearing the screams, the muffled metallic banging, the woman’s voice shouting “немає!”

Her hands ached from gripping the sheets.

Six years. Six bloody years, and she still couldn’t sleep more than a few hours at a stretch. That place. Fontaine’s Little Sister’s Orphanage. ‘Bringing big smiles to little faces’. What a load of bollocks. It was a factory, a production line of little girls. If she ever had the chance to punch Fontaine in the face, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop...but she’d heard someone else had done that for her. He was long gone.

After the five years in the orphanage, The Little Wonders Educational Facility had seemed magical. There had been real beds, enough food, plenty of toys. She had been with her sister. There had been mama Tenenbaum and Mr Bubbles. And after the...after the treatment, the world had _glowed_. They had seen angels and played in the garden.

Now all of them were gone.

Sarah sat up in the dark and put her head in her hands. She couldn't go on like this. She knew by now what happened to Little Sisters who hosted the precious ADAM for too long. Stories had been passed up the pipeline, by others who had made it out. Dark shrouded figures with red glowing eyes, screeching that shook the air, appearing out of nowhere to bring death to anyone who threatened the remaining girls, like the avenging angels of old.

 _Angels_ , thought Sarah bitterly, _Soldiers of God_ …but there'd never been any gods in that place. That was the whole point. ‘No Gods or Kings, Only Man’. That motto had been everywhere you turned. It was men who had built the city under the sea, men who had twisted and exploited the ADAM, men who had stolen her sister from her.

 

She knew her sister was still alive. She could _feel_ it. After all this time...even if she had become some sort of monster, it wasn’t her fault. She was still her _sister_. Sarah’s lips twisted into a smile. A Big Sister, now. She sighed, leaned her head back against the wall, staring ahead at the faint light creeping in around the window blind. No one knew if the Big Sisters could be saved. No one knew if they could even be brought to the surface, if the ADAM could still be removed. No one had ever tried. But it was time someone did. Sarah didn't know how but she had to get Helena back.

And that meant returning to Rapture.


	2. All Good Things Of This Earth Flow Into The City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little Sisters Helena and Sarah go on an adventure. Brigid Tenenbaum makes a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack - Twentieth Century Blues by Noel Coward

_**Sarah and Helena - 1958** _

 

Sarah and Helena held hands as they wandered along the tunnel, sometimes pointing out a particularly pretty fish to each other. Their Big Daddy stomped along behind them, the green lights of his helmet glowing comfortingly. All the other Sisters had their own protectors...but the two of them refused to be separated, despite all efforts of the doctors. The mere suggestion had met with a stony silence, and when they had tried by force...well, Aldous had nearly lost his eyes. Eventually Tenenbaum threw up her hands and allowed the twins to go through the pair-bonding process together. An interesting experiment, she thought. And we save a little money if it works. Not that money was an issue for DYAD Industries, but it never hurts to come in under budget.

 

The twins presented themselves as an united front to the outside world, and, it seemed, also to the Big Daddy. The girls had taken the news that they were to be given a guardian with excitement. They looked at each other and grinned. “You mean...a real daddy?” Sarah had exclaimed. Helena’s gaze darted back and forth between Sarah and Tenenbaum.

“A real daddy?” she echoed, her eyes alight.

 

Neither girl seemed to find it odd that their new Daddy was a hulking mechanical brute. Helena immediately touched his hand, and poked one of his great feet with her own, while Sarah hung back behind her for a moment, then grabbed his other hand. The twins whispered to each other for a moment, “He looks like a robot, ‘lena, from the movies!” “But there’s a daddy inside - can’t you see him, Sarah?” Tenenbaum was only slightly taken aback by Helena’s intuitiveness. None of the children were exposed to the making of a Big Daddy, and it was easier to let them all think they were big friendly robots rather than desperate, brainwashed men grafted into mechanical suits. These two always saw more than most.

 

The pair-bonding treatment and the Protector Trials went without a hitch. He accepted both of them as his charges, and they seemed no harder to protect than a single girl, seeing as they rarely were apart for more than a few minutes. The ADAM implanted in each of the Little Sisters seemed to connect all of them in ways the scientists didn’t quite understand yet...but these two had already been connected on a deeper level. Близнюки*. Observing the girls before their first conditioning treatment had been fascinating.

 

They delighted in tricking the various scientists, keeping them confused as to which twin was which. Just when they had figured out it was Helena who was left-handed, within a day both of the girls would appear to be ambidextrous. Tenenbaum would tie Sarah’s hair with yellow ribbons, Helena’s with blue, then both of them would appear with red bows after trading with the other girls in the facility. She found it rather charming and would affectionately call them her Little Sestras. Starved for a family as they were, the affection was returned. Naturally they had their own special ways of communicating, as identical twins often do, but they started introducing the occasional Ukrainian word in their chats, and would sometimes even refer to her as Maty.* After the conditioning started and the sea slugs implanted, ADAM was introduced to their systems and the connection...deepened.

 

The girls seemed to communicate without words now. Watching them lying on the floor with colouring-in books was disquieting, as they passed crayons back and forth without even looking to see what colours were needed. Every so often they would turn their heads and gaze at each other, eyes glowing with that golden sheen that was the denoter of ADAM. A silent conversation would appear to ensue, both of them would nod, or giggle, then look deliberately at the hidden cameras. And return to their colouring books and tea parties.

.

All the other doctors started avoiding the twins. In a facility devoted to implanting little girls with a parasite that produced a highly addictive substance, this, it seemed, was just too disturbing.

Except for Suchong, one of the strings attached to the purse of DYAD. We should set up experiments for them in their free time, he had stated. Find out _how_ the connection worked, and how it could be...utilized. Tenenbaum had seen that look in his eyes before, in other ‘scientists’ back in the camps. She had been a part of some very questionable experiments in order to keep herself alive, but she had no interest in bringing that kind of evil to Rapture. His special interest in Sarah and Helena disturbed her. She had managed to circumvent Suchong so far, but she needed a plan.

 

Nobody ever left Rapture. But she would find a way.

  


                                                           **⇌  ⇌  ⇌**       

  


Helena pressed her face up against the glass, humming as an octopus pushed past, and Sarah re-tied her shoelaces, while their Big Daddy opened the door that led into Arcadia...then in one fluid movement, he scooped both girls behind him with his left arm and raised his right as the great drill attached there roared into life, the lights on his visor now flashing red. A splicer sidled through the doorway, jabbing a meathook towards the girls, who both scrambled up the back of their protector, clinging to his armored shoulders and peering over at the ensuing carnage. Occasionally the splicers they encountered were armed with weapons and plasmids that could take down a Big Daddy - eventually - but a meathook was no match for the giant drill, and by the way this one kept flexing her left hand it was obvious her EVE had run dry. The plasmids were useless without it.

 

The fight didn’t last long.

 

In unison the girls cried “This one’s ripe, Mr B!” as they leapt down to the floor.

“Six times two is lemon.” added Helena, with the air of imparting important knowledge. They carefully inserted their special syringes into the motionless corpse, sucking out the precious ADAM...which Helena immediately tipped into her mouth, her eyes glowing. Sarah followed suit, but she never consumed quite as much as her sister, and often gave her any she had left. Then they clambered back onto Big Daddy’s shoulders, one of Sarah’s hands hooked through the metal frame of his helmet, the other holding onto her twins sash.

 

“Let’s go, Mr B!” Sarah shouted, and Helena clapped her hands and giggled.

 

“I can taste all the angels dancing inside of me.” she said in a delighted tone.

 

The trio lumbered off into the greenery of Arcadia.

  


Tenenbaum watched their progress through one of the monitors and nodded approvingly. Splicer attacks were still few and far between, and the Big Daddies were more than capable of protecting their charges from these citizens who had manipulated their own genes to the point where’d they’d lost touch with reality. She was certain that this would spread among the populace of Rapture, as more people bought themselves more plasmids to protect themselves against the random attacks, and became the very monsters they were threatened by, splicing themselves into a completely irrational state of being. It was such a прикрість*, the way humans took any great scientific discovery and used it to destroy themselves. No matter. The girls were her priority now, and her escape plan was in place. It was just a matter of the right moment. And a big enough distraction.

 

She turned her attention elsewhere. Tenenbaum narrowed her eyes as she adjusted the zoom on another monitor, then another. Yes, all the Little Sisters were accounted for. She clicked on her accu-vox and started recording her daily notes.

 

On another set of monitors, someone watched her.

 

Paradise was on the verge of a fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *blyznyuky/ twins
> 
> *mama/mother
> 
> *disappointment/annoyance
> 
>  


	3. Love is just a chemical. We give it meaning by choice.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tenenbaum meets the Duncans. Rachel meets Sarah and Helena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack - 'Solace' by Scott Joplin
> 
> Alternate universes are actually canon in the Bioshock universe and I like to think that a tiny, tiny bit of the switcheroo two from Project Leto by piggy09 has leaked through into this Sarah and Helena.

_**Little Wonders Facility - 1958** _

 

DYAD Industries was the money behind the Little Wonders facility. And the Duncans were the people behind DYAD. Tenenbaum had only met them once, when she had first come to Rapture, and quite frankly didn’t wish to repeat the experience. Oh, Ethan wasn’t the worst she’d ever encountered. A good scientist, going by his papers, if somewhat unwilling to engage with the actual living results of his research. But Susan...now, she was something else. A brilliant mind, and the coldest eyes that Tenenbaum had ever seen. Shaking her hand had left Tenebaum with the distinct impression she’d looked into the eyes of  a Горгона* and was lucky to be still flesh and blood.This occasion was also her first contact with Suchong and gave her another reason to keep him as far away from Sarah and Helena as possible.

__

The Duncan's daughter, however, she saw often. While not a Little Sister in the strictest sense, Tenenbaum could sense the ADAM in her. She suspected that her parents were using her for a different kind of experiment. (The word ‘neolution’ had been spoken in hushed tones, clearly not meant for her ears. But the vent system that the Little Sisters used to move around Rapture had other uses as well, and the scientist had little ears everywhere.)

She had a certain amount of sympathy for the girl, (imagine growing up under that stony gaze!) but was often unsure how to express it in the face of her chilly politeness. If any child had ever been grown in a lab, it was Rachel Duncan. The same age as Sarah and Helena, the same height, but with a blonde bob, and a pretty face wearing a mask of indifference. The hair was always smooth, the pinafore dress always spotless, the buckled shoes alway shiny. Usually left to her own devices while ostensibly ‘socializing’ with the other children, Rachel would somehow always end up near the twins.

__

At first, Tenenbaum suspected she was spying on the girls for her her parents. After a while, however, it was clear she was merely fascinated with the twins. There was a hint of jealousy in her interactions with them, as if she too wanted a sister, a real one. On further observation, it appeared that it was Sarah that Rachel wanted. Tenenbaum realised the girl was the only other person who could tell the twins apart - probably because she was terrified of Helena. She hid it well, with her chin raised and steady gaze, but she was always careful to keep Sarah between the two of them. Helena never overtly threatened Rachel...unless you counted the way she  _ looked _ at her. Or the time she had waggled her thumbs at Rachel, grinning. Word had got around about old Dr Leekie nearly having his eyes gouged out when they tried to separate the twins, and Helena wasn’t above using a bit of intimidation to keep anyone else getting too close to Sarah...or occasionally to gain herself an extra piece of cake.

__

Sarah seemed to be amused by Rachel’s deliberately casual overtures at friendship, and equally amused at Helena’s protective possessiveness. She would catch her twins eye and smile until Helena smiled as well, then they would carry on with one of their silent conversations and Rachel would be left sitting alone, hands folded on her lap. After a few similar occurrences, she started carrying a book around with her, sit as close as possible to Sarah, and read instead of attempting to share crayons or toys. She made no attempt to be friendly with the other girls, and the feeling appeared to be mutual. Her reading material was advanced for a nine year old, but Tenenbaum would have expected nothing less from a child of the Duncans. There was a definite lean towards Wells, Huxley, Maclean, although Darwin, Lutece, and other hard science texts often made an appearance.

__

One afternoon Rachel was engrossed in a copy of The Island of Dr Moreau. Sarah and Helena had just finished playing some sort of private complex game, when something about the book captured their interest. Sarah leaned over and traced her finger over the cover illustration, then smirked as she met Rachel’s eyes. Rachel’s cheeks reddened slightly, and her chin took on a defensive set but was disarmed when Helena also smiled at her, with no sign of the usual rancor. “читав нам” she said.

Rachel raised an eyebrow.

Sarah giggled. “Read to us”, she translated, eyes glowing golden.

Rachel studied both of them for a moment, trying to gauge the sincerity of the gesture, then lifted her right shoulder almost imperceptibly and nodded. The twins settled at her feet on a large cushion, hands entwined and Rachel turned back to the first page. Her voice was clear and steady as she began.

“On February the First 1887, the  _ Lady Vain _ was lost by collision with a derelict when about the latitude 1° S. and longitude 107° W. …”

__

After that, the three of them were friends, of a sort. The twins bond was unbreakable, and they still spent much of their time in their private world, but by some silent accord they extended a little space to Rachel. She was still wary of Helena, and Helena in turn still tended towards the monopolistic, but all in all...  It gave Tenenbaum some sense of satisfaction that her little sestras were helping someone else feel less lonely. She realized with a start that she had been lonely too, before fate had brought the girls into her life. Sometimes you didn’t even realise a thing was missing until you had it. Then came the fear of losing it.

__****  
  


She’d never really had friends, even before the war.

Her tendency to observe rather than participate marked her as atypical, and she often felt like she was a different species to the children around her. But opportunities sometimes cropped up in the oddest of places, and science had been the lifeline she had grasped in the camps. And it had led her here, to Rapture. Sometimes she thought about a particular university lecture by one Rosalind Lutece, doctor of quantum physics, that she had attended. There had been mention of alternate realities, and Tenenbaum had been fascinated by the idea. Sometimes she idly wondered if there were multiple other versions of herself out there that had never come to Rapture, and what fortunes had befallen them all. 

__

She sighed. про добре ніколи не розум*. She had made her choices, and her choices had made her. This late awakening of her maternal instinct wasn’t a blessing, but an impediment to the science being carried out here. However. Her choice  _ now  _ was to save all of her children, and if that made her a traitor, to Rapture, to DYAD, even to science, so be it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *gorgon/monster
> 
> *chytav nam/read to us
> 
> *oh well, never mind


	4. If the world was reborn in your image, would it be paradise or perdition?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helena is a hero and a monster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack - 'Air on the G String' by J.S Bach

_**Helena - 1966** _

 

She gazed down from her perch, high in the upper infrastructure, one arm casually looped around a pipe. Thick glass above her head separated her from the fish - she could trace her fingers over the smooth coldness and watch them dart back and forth. Stretching her head upwards, she breathed on the glass, then drew figures in the steam, little stick figures of little girls holding hands. Sometimes she saw whales, but they didn’t often come down this far. Their songs made her sad. They sounded like the noises the Big Daddy’s made to communicate with each other. It tore at her heart.

Many sharks though. She liked sharks and their purposeful graceful movement, their cold eyes and sharp, sharp teeth. She always grinned back at them. 

__

When she was up this high she liked to take the helmet off, and let her mane of white-blond hair curl around her face. There were no cameras up here either, no little silver eyes peering at her,  _ spying _ , judging her.

Dreamily crooning to herself -  _ somewhere...beyond the sea...she’s there...watching for me _ \- as she surveyed the sector known as Siren Alley, her head tilted to one side, Helena spotted movement far below and she froze in motion for a moment, then resumed humming.

__

Without taking her gaze off the tiny figure, she reached out and grasped the helmet with her free hand, then stood up, balancing with ease on the narrow beam. She tucked her hair away again and pulled the helmet over her head, twiddled a few knobs and zoomed in, the red visor glowing in the dim light. Another Little Sister without her protector. Helena pressed her lips together tightly. The Big Daddy’s had been thinned out, by splicers, by outsiders, by each other. Even by her, when they’d needed to be...even... But she couldn’t think about that now. There were splicers circling the little one. She had work to do. Her mouth opened and she  _ screamed. _

__

The splicers stopped for a moment and looked up in dread, a moment of clarity piercing the clouds that now infiltrated their minds. Even they knew what that sound meant. The high-pitched noise appeared to grow in intensity instead of fading away, it echoed off the walls, and seemed to be made up of frequencies both too high and too low for the human ear to handle.

Before they could scatter, she was among them, in a flash of purple light. The Little Sister was cowering away from the splicers, whimpering.

__

“T-too many shadows! Sticky! Sticky!”

__

Her glowing golden eyes grew even wider as she caught sight of Helena, then she smiled as the first two splicers were impaled on a giant needle, extracting the ADAM from both of them in an instant. The next flew through the air as if flung by an invisible catapult, hitting a wall with a satisfying crunch. The last tried to incinerate the Big Sister, flames arching from his hands. Her speed was uncanny as she dodged, ran up the closest wall, then flipped over behind the splicer and drove her needle through its chest.

__

The Little Sister clapped her hands and said “Clear as rainbows! Time to find the angels!”

__

She skipped over to the splicer slumped at the wall base and slid her syringe into the stomach, drawing out the ADAM. Helena watched her for a moment, her eyes tracking the dark pigtails, the tiny hands...images swirled in her mind, another little girl, with dark braids and eyes that were like looking into a mirror. She shook her head and the pictures were gone, leaving nothing but emptiness under the pulsating power of the ADAM that ran through her body. 

__

                                                       ⇌   ⇌  ⇌

__

On a bank of monitors, a finger traced the small black and white outline of the Big Sister’s body. A fingernail, painted silver,  _ tap-tap-tapped _ against a screen showing a close-up of the figure. 

_ Sister.  _

__

                                                       ⇌  ⇌  ⇌  

__

Scoping the area around Siren Alley and finding it clear, she stood with her head tilted, humming, until the girl was finished harvesting. The nearest vent was at the top of a staircase around a corner. Helena picked her up and carried her there. As she lifted her into the hidey-hole, the girl quietly said ‘I miss Mister Bubbles”.

__

Helena bowed her head, suddenly blinking back tears, then put her hand on the Little Sisters chin and lifted it to meet the helmet visor. A green glow lit up the girl’s face, and she swallowed and gave a little smile.

__

“It was dark but you’re all glowy.” She yawned. “I’m ready for dreamtime now, Big Sis.” The small face disappeared from view as she backed into the vent, her golden eyes shining in the shadows. Helena glanced around one more time, patted the side of the vent to say goodnight, then leapt up onto the roof of the nearest building, picking up speed until she was a blur that seemed to vanish into the great expanse of ceiling that covered this section of the decaying city.

__

She may have lost her sestra. Her Maty. And her татусь.* But she could still keep all of her other Sisters safe. And one day Sarah would come back for her. For all of them. They would make a family again.

                                                         ⇌  ⇌  ⇌

__

Back in the central control room, silver eyes narrowed as the figure disappeared. The Big Sister was always careful not to be tracked, managing to avoid the multitude of cameras by traveling mostly in the upper hemisphere, or via the vents that she could still fit in though. The teleportation power she possessed didn’t help either. She had to come out in the open sometimes though.

__

While the various areas of Rapture were well mapped, the venting system and secret tunnels that the Little Sisters had used had always been kept off the cartography of the underwater city.

Oh, the vent openings were easy to find, of course, but behind them was an endless rambling labyrinth. She had never been one of the Little Sisters, had never been privy to their secrets, even when she and the twins had been...well. Whatever they had been to each other. 

__

And now she was hiding away in here, watching Helena dance around Rapture, killing splicers and saving little girls, being a _ hero.  _ She wasn’t a hero. She was a monster. There were only monsters left here now. 

__

Anger flared in her, and she focused it, channeled it, gave it an outlet in the flames that danced along her fingers. She watched the fire flicker, then sighed and clicked her fingers, making the flames vanish. She could  _ help _ Helena. But the girl refused to even acknowledge her existence anymore. She must know who was sending the Little Sisters out...but still, nothing.

__

Helena was the only link to Sarah. Surely, Sarah would come back for her sister. Sarah would listen to her. Then they would come to terms, and they would be together again. Her right hand lingered on the screen that now showed only empty pathways and vacant buildings.

__

_ Tap-tap-tap _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *daddy
> 
> ~Mister Bubbles or Mr B is the name used by many of the Little Sisters in regards to their Big Daddies


	5. There's two ways to deal with mystery: uncover it, or eliminate it.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tenenbaum keeps working amidst civil war. Sarah and Helena do some spying. Rachel is bored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack - God Bless the Child by Billie Holiday  
> \- Prelude and Fugue #2 in C Minor by J.S bach

Rapture - 1959

Revolutions are never sudden. They may seem that way to the people at the very top, the ones who are too far up to hear the warning bells. But they are a gradual push towards change that slowly becomes a landslide, and then the ivory towers are toppled and the occupants blinking in the light of a new dawn. If they still had their heads.

 

Just as Tenenbaum had foreseen, more residents of Rapture had spliced themselves into oblivion than could be dealt with, and added to the socio-political unrest that she had scarcely paid attention to...the city was in upheaval. Many of the splicers were attacking each other with abandon, the addictive nature of the ADAM making them so desperate they would kill their own families for it. There had been riots on New Year’s Eve, attacks on the upper echelons of Rapture society.  A number of splicers had formed into factions siding with Ryan, the originator of the capitalist dream of the city, or with Atlas, some working class hero type with a charming brogue.

 

Civil War had come to Rapture. And it was just the distraction she needed.

 

Inside the relative peace of the labs, the program continued. DYAD doubled down on security and The Little Sisters still went out to collect ADAM from the corpses, the Big Daddy’s still protected them while they did so, the scientists still worked on the addiction problem, and, even now, on developing new plasmids and other applications. For herself, Tenenbaum concentrated on the girls. For one thing, Helena’s hair was definitely showing a blonde tinge...but not Sarah’s. She suspected that his was the consequence of Helena absorbing more of the ADAM during collections, and tests confirmed it. It was fascinating. Despite them being genetic identicals, Helena appeared to have a stronger constitution, able to host and process more of the ADAM than her sister.  What kind of an effect this would prove to have on her system in the long term was as yet unclear.

 

Tenenbaum was secretly working on a plasmid of her own. One that would enable the user to harvest the ADAM from another person without harming them in the process, returning them to their previous unaltered human state. As soon as it was perfected, she could save her all her little sestras and leave Rapture. There would be no coming back.  Science had made these little girls into walking ADAM factories. Science would make them human again. Science would be her lifeline once more. 

 

                                                  ⇌  ⇌  ⇌

  
  


Sarah and Helena crawled through a vent and into the maze beyond. All the Little Sisters knew their way around the tunnels. It was one of the beneficial side-effects of the ADAM that information like this, if known to one of the girls, was known to all of them. You could travel the entirety of a city section without coming out in the open, plus there were all sorts of hidden exits and entrances to the various businesses and apartment buildings. The Little Sisters could find out a great many secrets, if they had some...direction.

 

Tenenbaum often asked the twins to go on little errands for her.  _ Listen here. Look there. Be quiet as church mice. ( _ ‘What’s a church?” asked Helena, and Sarah elbowed her in the ribs and giggled like she had said a naughty word.) There was no information coming out of the Duncan’s lab, and she needed to know what exactly they were doing to Rachel if the new plasmid was to work on her as well. It would be difficult to include her in the escape, but leaving her down here with Susan Duncan... Besides, Sarah insisted that Rachel be saved with the rest of the Little Sisters. Helena had merely pulled at her bottom lip and peered at the ceiling while Sarah whispered to their Maty earnestly. She was friendly enough towards the other girl but certainly not averse to the idea of having her sister all to herself again. Still, Helena would do anything for Sarah, even put up with Rachel, with her shiny hair and fancy voice. She twirled a strand of her own hair around her finger and peered at it. 

 

It was definitely blonder now. Helena frowned. The thought of not being exactly the same as her twin made her feel  _ wrong,  _ like she was becoming someone else. Maty had explained that it was from imbibing so much ADAM, that it was lightening the follicles. Maybe she should stop drinking so much of the stuff? Or she’d end up with stupid yellow hair like  _ Rachel.  _  But it tasted so good and she was always so hungry. 

‘ _ lena, hurry up!  _ Sarah’s voice sounded in her head, and she realised with a start that she’d fallen behind. Crawling as fast as could without making any noise, she caught up to her sister and peered through the vent opening, her face pressed against Sarah's. They were looking right into the office of Susan Duncan.

 

Rachel sat across the desk from her mother. She was bored and slightly unnerved, the usual combination. Mother had been talking for a while now, about the experiment and projected results and and ADAM levels and numbers and Rachel was bored, she was so _ bored.  _ She wanted to go back to the common room and see Sarah. Even Helena’s glare would be a welcome sight right now. She idly let her gaze wander around the room while her mother droned on.  _ You’re not exempt from the program, Rachel, just because you’re our daughter. You simply enjoy a unique vantage, one with privilege. You’re not a common Little Sister, a mere host. We’re making you into something much more _ .  _ Human evolution needs a little push... _ Her blank listening face was so practised that she didn’t react when she noticed a faint golden glow high up in one of the wall vents. Rachel bit the inside of her lip to keep from smirking. She knew the twins made use of the myriad venting tunnels to spy. If it had been anyone but Sarah, she might have told. 

 

‘Rachel, are you listening?” Susan snapped, and Rachel returned her stare with slightly raised eyebrows.  _ Yes Mother _ , she thought.  _ You’re making me into some  _ **_thing._ **

“Yes, mother. I’ll be ready for the tests tomorrow. I won’t be late.”

 

Rachel left the office, making a beeline for the common room. High up in the vent, Sarah silently pushed the  stop button on the miniature Accu-Vox that Maty had made just for her. Helena continued staring through the vent a moment longer, then a quiet, resolute voice in Sarah’s head said  _ she’s not a good mummy. not like ours.  _ She squeezed Helena’s hand in agreement. Then they made their way back through the tunnels to deliver the recording to Tenenbaum, Helena silently resolving to be somewhat nicer to Rachel. 

 

The twins barely remembered their own parents, but they knew they had been safe and warm and  _ loved.  _ They could remember the feelings if not the details. But what was the point of having parents if they  _ used _ you, and never played with you, or even gave you cookies when you had to sit in their boring office for hours? 

 

Helena pressed her lips together in a tight line. Perhaps Sarah was right about taking Rachel with them after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Religion isn't illegal in Rapture, as long as people do their worship in the privacy of their own homes. There are no public churches etc
> 
>  
> 
> ~Look...just imagine Helena screaming "You're a shit mother!" but at Susan Duncan instead of Dr Cody, because that's what was happening in my head this chapter :)


	6. This world values children, not childhood.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarah remembers. She and Mrs S have a chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack  
> \- Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams by Bing Crosby  
> \- Memories of You by The Ink Spots

Sarah - 1966

 

Sarah sighed, and threw the covers back. It was barely daylight, but there was no way she was getting back to sleep now. She touched the frame of the photo she kept by the bed - her and Helena, and Rachel. Combing her hair with her fingers, a memory flashed through her mind of Helena sitting behind her and carefully brushing her hair and braiding it, back in the orphanage. Then Sarah would do the same to hers. She could barely remember anything before that time. A vague idea of a small apartment, dark eyes that smiled, plaster dust that made you sneeze,  _ family _ .

  
  


Maty had found out a little information, and filled in the background later. Their parents had been workers - builders, engineers, part of the early wave into Rapture that built the city, gave Andrew Ryan's dreams physical form...and then were forgotten when the structure was complete. No one could leave Rapture, and there was no social welfare programs, no safety net for the multitude of working-class people with no work. 

With the discovery of ADAM, and the growing demand for it, came the Little Sisters. Research had concluded that the sea-slug that produced the ADAM could be implanted into a suitable host, said host becoming a ADAM production factory.

 

And the most suitable hosts were little girls.

 

And so Fontaines Little Sister's Orphanage were created. Fontaine saw the need for more children to produce more ADAM...and for himself to gain some credit for his ‘compassion’ and ‘social responsibility”. The orphanages took in not only orphans, but children of the poorer residents, convincing them that their children would be fed, clothed, and educated - after all, ‘Children are the future of Rapture!’ Any parents that asked too many questions just...stopped coming back. It was impossible to find out if the Mannings had actually died, or had been disappeared, although the lack of any official death certificates indicated the latter. 

 

Suitable candidates for the Little Sisters program were chosen by DYAD. Sarah remembered the day they had first met Maty Tenenbaum. She had been with a tall thin man with no hair, and the twins had quietly giggled behind their hands about how he looked like a skeleton. Maty - of course she hadn’t been ‘Maty’ then, just Dr Tenenbaum - had been professionally distant, but had at least smiled at the assorted children. The skeleton man, who they discovered was called Dr Leekie (more giggles) just seemed uncomfortable being around so many children in such a crowded and dingy space. 

 

Both the adults moved around the room, talking to various children. Various  _ girls,  _ Sarah remembered. There were boys at the orphanage, but only girls were taken away by DYAD. There were at least a dozen in the twins group. Sarah listed all their names in her head - Beth, Katja, Jennifer, Veera, Janika, Danielle, Niki, Krystal, Justyna,  Alison, Cosima - all now living their lives on the surface with relatives the two older women had tracked down. Even though they were no longer connected by the ADAM, they still considered themselves sisters, of a kind, and kept in touch. Even got together once a year.  But there had been so many left behind. She thought about Rachel and chewed on her lip. She’d be eighteen years old as well, same as Sarah. Did her parents get her out? Were they still down there? Was she...

 

Sarah rested the coffee cup against her forehead for a moment. She’d wandered through the kitchen, and out onto the small back verandah. Some part of her still was in awe of the sunrise. She’d been born in Rapture. Sunshine had been a word, meaningless, until the day she had come to the surface and squinted into the relentless light.

 

She heard footsteps from behind her, and a hand rested on her shoulder. “Bad dreams again, love?” asked Mrs S softly.

 

“Yeah.” Sarah answered quietly. She gulped the rest of her coffee down. “I need to fix this, S. I can’t go on just...I have to go back. I have to go back and find Helena. It’s like...there’s a piece of me that’s missing and it’ll never be right until we’re together again.”

 

Her grip tightened on Sarah’s shoulder, then Mrs S walked around and sat on the steps leading to the small garden. “Are you sure you’re ready for that?  Rapture has been in decay for years, overrun by splicers.  How do you know that - ”

 

Sarah cut her off. “I  _ know.  _ Helena is still alive, she’s still down there, waiting for me. I know it. I’m not a little girl anymore. I can do this.”

 

Mrs S nodded, once. “Right then. I have something to give you. From Brigid.”

 

Sarah swallowed. “From Maty?” she asked, her voice scarcely cracking.

 

“That’s right, love. From your Maty. I promised her that I would keep it safe, and hidden, until you were ready. She knew-” a wry smile “that you would never be at peace until you were with your sister again. So she made plans, for when you were old enough. She was a great one for plans.”

Mrs S smiled fondly, thinking of Brigid, her silvery hair falling in her eyes, so clever and driven. One of a kind, she was. Mrs S had been doing dodgy work on the black market in Rapture, part of a smuggling ring bringing in goods from the surface. Brigid Tenenbaum had needed help in smuggling particular goods back  _ out.  _

She hadn’t expected those goods to be little girls, but Mrs S always kept her side of a bargain, and Brigid...well, she had certainly been worth the risk.

 

And S had ended up with a family. Smaller now that Brigid had passed - diagnosed with cancer two years after returning to the surface, they had lost her in 1965. She’d had regrets about her part in the program, but had tried to make amends as best she could. All the girls had traveled back to England for her funeral, from all over the world.  They all owed Brigid their lives, and they would never forget her. Mrs S would never forget her either.

 

“And she told me not to try to stop you. That you were a...what was it...міцний горішок.”* The words sounded odd in S’s Irish accent, but it made Sarah smile.

 

“Have some breakfast, Sarah. I’ll need to go talk to some old friends.”

 

Sarah nodded, although breakfast was likely to be just another coffee. After she heard the front door close behind Mrs S, she went and refilled her cup, then returned to her seat on the verandah, staring at the sunlight on the rhododendrons, and the red bricks of the squat garden shed. She thought about her sister. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine what she would look like now. 

 

_ sestra _

 

Sarah started, almost spilling her coffee. She stared around, but there was nothing. Just the garden, and the sunlight, and...what was that music spilling out of the neighbours windows?

 

‘Somewhere- beyond the sea! 

She’s there - waiting for me!’

 

Her eyes welled up and suddenly she was crying - intense, snotty sobbing like the ocean was trying to make it’s way out of her. 

 

_ I’m coming for you Helena  _ she thought,  _ I’ll save you I’ll save you I’ll save you I’ll _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *tough nut
> 
> The one note I had for this chapter was on the paragraph where Mrs S is thinking about Brigid Tenenbaum and it read 'Harold, they're lesbians'.


	7. Evolve Today!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel goes through her final treatment. (medical procedures/body horror)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack - Under My Skin by Cole Porter

**_DYAD_ ** **\- 1959**

  
  


Rachel smoothed down the front of her dress before knocking at the door of her mother’s office, listening to the big band music playing over the tinny speakers that were ubiquitous in Rapture, even here in the labs. She preferred Bach herself, but this song was one of Sarah’s favourites... _ happy we’ll be...beyond the sea _ …

She was actually looking forward to the tests. Finally, something other than interminable injections and tedious psychological evaluations that she could answer in her sleep. As much as she resented her mother using her as a lab rat, she had to admit - although she never would, not to her mother at any rate - the idea of  _ power,  _ real power, was thrilling to her. She had always known she was different, better, than all the other children in Rapture. Now she would be able to show it. Show  _ them _ .

 

Rachel flexed her fingers. She acknowledged Susan’s part in the play here. Oh, her father too, although he seemed to get more distant with each procedure she went through. He had developed much of the theory behind all of this, the ADAM experiments, the Little Sister program...but once the theory became reality, being face to face with the end result was just unbearable for him. Rachel sniffed. She loved her father, but he was weak. He couldn’t even meet her eyes anymore, preferring to leave the lab work to her mother and spend his time in the aviaries of Arcadia.

 

She startled slightly as the office door opened, but regained her poise before meeting the gaze of - oh. Dr Suchong.  “Ah, Rachel, we’ve been waiting for you. Come along now.”

Rachel nodded curtly, and entered the room. None of the girls liked Dr Suchong...he always looked at you like he would prefer to have you pinned down to a board, dissected and organs arranged neatly, all secrets revealed. Her mother’s eyes were cold, but his  _ burned _ . Susan Duncan sat at her desk, a neat pile of papers in front of her. 

“Sit down, Rachel.” 

Rachel sat. Suchong remained standing behind her somewhere, and the skin on the back of her neck crawled under the weight of his stare.

 

“Now...we have one last injection to administer, and then we’ll start testing your plasmids. This may be...slightly more painful than the previous injections. But you can handle it, can’t you?”

 

“Yes, Mother.” Rachel replied, her voice steady, slightly bored, not betraying the least part of trepidation. The previous injections had been steadily increasing in pain over the past year, but she had never let them see it. Never cried out. At night, while she lay in bed, she would press against the bruised area, gritting her teeth, letting the pain become a part of her. Sometimes she felt like her blood was freezing in her veins, or there were flames were crawling just underneath her skin, seeking an exit. She wanted to let them out.

 

This time they strapped Rachel’s arms to a chair. “There may be - involuntary movements. We must - keep the subject  _ safe. _ ” said Suchong. He smiled, but only with his mouth. 

“Remember to keep your breathing steady. Are you ready, Rachel?” murmured her mother into her ear. Rachel nodded. The needle slid into her left forearm, she breathed in, the viridescent liquid entered her veins, she breathed out….then her world turned to flame.

  
  


                                                          ⇌   ⇌   ⇌

 

In the bedroom that the twins shared, Sarah flinched. Helena curled her hand around Sarah’s ankle from where she lay on the floor, and looked up. Then she caught the trail of Sarah’s thoughts and climbed up onto the bed and the sisters wrapped their arms around each other. 

 

Sarah cared about the other girl in a way that was alien to Helena, who only really cared about Sarah. Well...she had grown to love Maty as well, but not like she loved Sarah. Sarah was the sun that Helena revolved around, Maty was the moon. Everyone else were like distant stars.

 

Helena didn’t care about Rachel, not really, not like Sarah did. But she had a finely attuned sense of  _ fairness.  _ And what Rachel’s mother was doing to her wasn’t _ fair. _

  
  


                                                    ⇌   ⇌   ⇌

 

Rachel threw her head back and  _ screamed.  _

As the ADAM raced through her bloodstream and activated the carefully layered plasmids, her hands twisted and flexed and the plasmids sought to escape. Flames erupted from her fingers, the flesh appearing to burn and melt away. Then sparks flew as her hands, whole again, crackled with electricity, the veins visibly glowing. Finally, her hands turned blue with cold, icicles forming a crust which then shattered. 

 

There was a sharp pain in her muscles, like knives as thin as air were forcing their way up from beneath her skin. Her  _ head.  _ Her head felt like it was going to explode. She felt like she was looking at herself from the other end of a very long tunnel, tinged with purple light. That -that -  _ that sound what was that sound like whispering... _

 

The pain eased, and she managed to steady her breathing again. The shock left her momentarily speechless, and the eerie timelessness she had just experienced confused Rachel. Had she really been here the entire time? It felt like she had traveled a great distance, but without actually moving. She noticed with some satisfaction that Suchong was limping, knowing without being told that he had been too close when the reaction set in and her unrestrained legs had kicked out with considerable force.

 

Now that Rachel seemed to be under control, her mother unstrapped her from the chair. She moved her hands, bending the wrists and wriggling her fingers. Somehow - she knew how it all worked now. She could  _ feel  _ the differences between the plasmids, and how to control them. Flexing her left hand, she watched with satisfaction as a narrow jet of flame shot out of her fingers. Then her right hand, clicking her fingers, sending a blast of icy air after the fire. Left hand again, a lightening bolt seared the air.

 

Rachel laughed. 

 

Susan Duncan frowned. “Come now, Rachel, settle down. This isn’t a game.”

Rachel turned her head and lifted her eyes. There was a flash of silver, and Susan felt a brief tinge of uneasiness. Then Rachel moved her mouth into a smile, and her eyes were...completely normal. 

Susan tried to brush off the feeling of disquietude.

Maybe they should have waited until she was older? But no. All the research pointed to younger girls being the most amenable to the treatment. After puberty would be too late. None of the Little Sisters proper had reached that age yet. 

_It would be fascinating to see what happened to them,_ Susan considered in a clinical way. As it would be fascinating to see what would happen to Rachel. 

 

“Let’s go into the other lab. It’s all set up for proper plasmid evaluation and you’re less likely to cause a fire.” Susan put her hand on Rachel’s shoulder to lead her and didn’t see how she twisted her mouth at the word ‘fire’. Suchong, however, did notice, and as he limped ahead to open the door to the second lab, he resolved to keep a close eye on the girl. From a safe distance, he added to himself, as his knee twinged. 

_ Note to self:  _ he muttered, _ Add leg restraints to subject test chair. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rachel kicking Suchong makes me happy :)


	8. Constants & Variables

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarah goes for a boat ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack  
> -I Cover the Waterfront by Billie Holiday  
> -Lutece Theme - Bioshock Infinite soundtrack

**_Sarah_ ** **\- 1966**

 

Sarah waited on the jetty, hands in pockets, legs restless. Her backpack lay next to her feet. Mrs S had shoved it full of snack bars and a water canteen. The front pocket held a waterproof pouch which contained maps, a small notebook filled with Maty’s elegant writing...and a handgun.

She wasn’t sure who exactly she was waiting for, but Mrs S had arranged for someone trustworthy to pick her up and take her to yet another secret hidey-hole, one that held something left by Maty, something that would get her back to Rapture. She shivered a little. There was no recollection in her mind about the journey to the surface six years ago. Maty had talked to her about it, about trauma and gross stress reaction and repressed memories. The pain of being ripped away from Helena, then being taken from Rapture and brought to the surface for the first time in her life...Sarah had lived in a fog for the first year or so.

 

The sun was too bright, the air too dry, and there was no one to share all of it with. The ADAM-driven psychic connection that the twins had shared had been cut off, an unfortunate side-effect of the ‘Little Sister Antidote’ that Maty had developed. But still - Sarah knew her sister was alive, she had survived in that underwater hellhole, and she was waiting for Sarah to come back and get her.

 

The sound of oars in the water, and crisp voices bickering - _If we’re going to end up at the same place, I don’t see the harm in enjoying the ride - Are you being cute?  -_ distracted Sarah from her memories. It was mostly dark now, but she could see the occupants of the small boat as it pulled in, under the light of a lantern hanging at the bow - both clad in bright yellow and strangely old-fashioned looking raincoats, the two redheads turned simultaneously and looked at her with identical eyes.

 

“Sarah Manning, I presume” said the woman. Sarah nodded, suddenly shy under the scrutiny of their bright, curious stares. Something about their gaze reminded her of Maty. She cocked her head. “Did you know my mother?” she asked.

 

They looked at each other, then the man spoke. “Ms Tenenbaum? Indeed. She is an impressive scientist…”

 

“...and a most fascinating individual. She will attend one of my lectures.” the woman paused. “Attended, quite some time ago. Now we are here...”

 

 “...and here we are!” The man finished.

 

Sarah gaped at them for a moment, ( _will attend?)_ caught up in the feeling that the two of them were somehow not quite real, but at the same time they were the most _real_ people she had ever met. Her eyes widened in recognition. “Oh!” she said, “Rosalind Lutece. We have some of your books at home. Maty used to read them to us…” she swallowed, “...to my sister and I…” They hadn’t been able to take much with them while fleeing Rapture, but those texts had been deemed too important to leave behind and Sarah had often leafed through them, and looked at the author’s picture on the back cover.

 

The woman smiled in a satisfied way. “Excellent. You’re never too young to start learning about quantum physics. Now hop in and let’s be on our way.”

 

As Sarah settled in the middle of the boat, the man smiled at her, and introduced himself as Robert Lutece. “I don’t suppose you row?” he enquired hopefully. Rosalind made an amused ‘hmpf’ sound.

 

“I’ve never even been in a boat before. I mean, except that one time...but…” Sarah trailed off.

 

He sighed. “They _never_ row.”

 

They pushed off and started to move out into the darkness, the lantern casting a small circle of light around them. Sarah felt oddly safe with these two strangers. Pulling her coat hood up over her hair to save it from the worst of the sea spray, she watched Rosalind check a compass, nod, then slide it back into one of her voluminous pockets.

 

“Are we going to another boat?” Sarah asked her.

 

“Not as such.” The woman arched an eyebrow at her. “More like…”

 

“...a doorway....” continued her brother,

 

“...which is also a lighthouse.” Rosalind finished.

 

“...right...” muttered Sarah. She slumped in her seat, suddenly feeling exhausted. Hands in her pockets, her head nodded forward and she drifted off to sleep.

 

Voices woke her up what seemed like only minutes later, but could have been hours. The Lutece twins were arguing. _Again._ Sarah thought. _Do they ever stop?_

 

“I told you they'd come.”

“No, you didn't.”

“Right. I was **going** to tell you they'd come.”

“But you didn't.”

“But I **don't**.”

“You sure that's right?”

“I was going to **have** told you they'd come?”

“No.”

“The subjunctive?”

“That's not the subjunctive.”

“I don't think the syntax has been invented yet”.

“It would have had to have had been.”

“Had to have...had...been? That can't be right.”

 

Sarah sat up, stretching her back and legs out, and rubbing her eyes, just as the boat stopped with a thud. Her mouth dropped open as she looked up...and further up. A massive lighthouse towered above her. Was it a lighthouse? There was a huge light at the top, but it wasn’t turning or flashing. The style was vaguely art deco, and more like a heavily stylized idea of a lighthouse, rather than an actual one built to prevent shipwrecks. A shallow set of stone steps led upwards, lined with lamps. One had come loose and lay half submerged in the water, buzzing intermittently.

 

“We’ve arrived.” announced Rosalind.

 

“Is this the way back to Rapture?” Sarah asked, looking up at the light. “Is there a...elevator..or something?”

 

Behind her, Robert chuckled. “In a manner of speaking.”

 

“Follow the stairs up, enter the lighthouse, follow the stairs down, Ms Manning. There you will find your elevator, and doorway to Rapture.” instructed Rosalind. “Nightcap?”

 

She held out a tray with a small yellow bottle on it. Sarah blinked. Where had _that_ come from? She reached out hesitantly, then grasped the bottle in her hand, examining the label. It was a simple golden shield shape with an ornate ‘L’ inscribed on it.

 

“Shouldn’t this have a label saying ‘drink me’ on it, or somethin’?” Sarah queried in a sardonic tone.

 

“Well, if you prefer…” Sarah looked at the bottle again, and sure enough a label now fluttered from a piece of string, the words ‘drink me’ in a flowing script. She looked up sharply at Rosalind.

 

“Is this...magic?”

 

Rosalind laughed. “Oh, no, my dear, it’s merely science. You should have paid more attention to my books.”

 

Sarah stared at the bottle, then shrugged, twisted the lid off and drank.

 

The air around her thickened, and she saw a yellow-tinted glass shield cover enclose her, then fade away. “What…” she stammered, “...what was...that…”

 

“The difference between life and death.” answered Rosalind.

 

“A magnetic-repulsive field around your body. Handy in a pinch.” added Robert cheerfully.

 

“Umm. Thanks?” Sarah was suddenly wide awake, more awake than she’d felt in years. She stepped out of the boat onto the stairs. The Luteces remained seated, both faces turned towards her.

 

“Good luck” said Robert.

 

“Luck is merely superstition, dear brother. And there is no room for that where she is going.” Rosalind sniffed. Then in a slightly warmer tone she addressed Sarah.

 

“I do wish you well in your quest to reunite with your sister. I know once my brother and I became aware of each other, I could not be satisfied until we could be together. I’m sure you will be successful in your endeavours. Gold and silver will be as one once more.”

 

Sarah frowned. That phrase seemed oddly familiar, but when she tried to pin it down, her memories scattered. She shrugged, and started up the stairs as the twins pushed off. The sounds of clear, high voices singing ‘Row row row your boat’ reached across the water, growing fainter as the swinging lantern sailed further away.

 

Sarah slipped through the great doors at the top of the steps. They seemed to made of some metal that didn’t rust, with an engraved pattern. Inside was dark, but as she moved forwards, lights flickered on. Some sort of automated system, she guessed. The doors behind her swung shut. She looked up and stopped dead. There was a huge statue looming out of the wall, a statue of a man’s head, with a large red banner which proclaimed NO GODS OR KINGS. ONLY MAN. “Andrew Ryan” she whispered. She remembered him, at least - the creator of Rapture, and ultimately the one responsible for all the lives destroyed by it.

 

The blank stone eyes seemed to follow her as she made her way around to the stairs leading down. More lights came to life as she descended, revealing ornate art deco wall panels in bronze, or copper. Sarah ran her fingers over one as she passed - stylised waves and fish surrounded a maritime star - maybe a compass, or a ship helm? The designers were clearly briefed with ‘water themes’, she thought wryly. Speaking of water, that was what she could hear ahead of her. Water lapping softly against metal.

 

As Sarah entered the large area at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes lit up, and a memory was shaken loose. The bathysphere! How could she have forgotten this? Even in the distraught shape she had left Rapture, the bathysphere had been a wonder. A metal and glass contraption that swam through the water like a small round submarine, following ‘tracks’ between the various areas of the city. She touched the door and found it surprisingly warm. The interior was cosy, if old-fashioned. Red velvet bench seats on either side of the doorway. A copper dome ceiling, and a shiny brass lever reflected softly-glowing lamps. Sarah wouldn’t have been taken aback to find a label saying ‘Pull Me’ tied to the lever, but apparently the Lutece whimsy didn’t extend this far.

 

 _What a pair of oddballs_ , she muttered, as she pulled the lever. There were whirring noises as the contraption slowly came back to life . The door closed inwards with a clunk, the pod vibrated slightly, and then began to sink down into the water, leaving a trail of bubbles. Sarah remained standing, her legs too restless, then jerked and swore softly as as an audio track started blaring at her, the accompaniment to a film flickering on a small screen behind the lever. She had never heard the welcome speech before, but the story and bombastic tone were too familiar.

 

‘ **I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?**

**'No!' says the man in Washington, 'It belongs to the poor.'**

**'No!' says the man in the Vatican, 'It belongs to God.'**

**'No!' says the man in Moscow, 'It belongs to everyone.'**

**I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible.**

**I chose... Rapture, a city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, Where the great would not be constrained by the small!**

**And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well.** ’

 

She scowled at the sound of his voice, and the propaganda-style of the film. _Yeah, right, mate_ she thought _it’s all fun and games until people start splicing themselves to death._ As the bathysphere passed a 10 Fathom marker, surrounded with art deco style sculptures, then an 18 Fathom maker, then there was a loud _clunk_ as they hit 20 fathoms, and the pod connected with the track. After passing through a short tunnel, the bathysphere swung into view of Rapture...and Sarah was awestruck despite herself.

 

Buildings towered ahead of her, with their lighted windows and neon signs in every colour glowing still, hundreds of fish swam around them, illuminated and graceful. The city was too large for her to see all of it at once...the lights seem to stretch out for  miles. She could see the glassed-in tunnels, reaching from one building to another, were mostly intact. The names on the buildings were rekindling memories...Finley. Fleet Hall. Cohen’s Collection. Other areas were dark, some buildings had collapsed, or the ocean had made it’s way inside. Pressing her face to the door window, Sarah  exclaimed softly as a whale slowly moved overhead, the pale underside of its huge body reflecting the flashing lights. Underneath her, an octopus slithered into a wall crevice. Off to the side a shark swam by lazily, seemingly perusing it’s many feeding options. She smiled. Helena had always liked the sharks best.

 

Now the bathysphere connected to another track, curved metal gently grasping the pod and guiding it to a docking bay. Illuminated words along the top of the track stated ALL GOOD THINGS OF THIS EARTH FLOW INTO THE CITY. Sarah snorted and rolled her eyes at that, despite being impressed at the technology that was now rising her up, past bright advertisements for various plasmids ( _Telekinesis - Mind Over Matter! Brought to you by DYAD Industries! Incinerate - Fire at your fingertips! DYAD Industries - Protecting You and Your Home!_ ), until the bathysphere slotted into place next to what seemed to be a dock of sorts, lined with a red carpet runner, a large window ahead. She put her hand on the door handle, then hesitated. There’d be splicers running around out there - she couldn’t spot any through the window, but there were a lot of shadows to hide in.

 

Pulling the pouch out, she found the map marked ‘Welcome Pavilion’. She was... _here_ ...and needed to get... _there_. Right then. Straightening up and shoving the map back in the bag, she shook her hands from the wrist, trying to get rid of some of the nerves. Sarah then reached back into the pouch and pulled out the gun. She knew it had belonged to her Maty - Brigid had been the one to teach her to shoot, initially. And made sure she knew at least the basics of self-defense - just in case DYAD ever came looking, she said.

Now Sarah wondered if she had been preparing her for this as well. After Maty died, Mrs S made sure she kept up her practice. Checking the gun was loaded, she held it loosely in her right hand, safety off.

 

Sarah breathed in and out, in and out, left hand on the door handle, then slowly, slowly, pushed down until there was a low _clunk_ and the door swung outwards.

 

She stepped out into Rapture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really proud of this chapter because a) LOOK IT'S OVER 2000 WORDS WOOOOO! I tend to run out of steam fairly quickly, so I feel like my chapters are quite short, but I was having so much fun with the Lutece twins that I just couldn't stop - they are my terrible wonderful children and I love them, and b) the rowing joke (which...is def a Bioshock Infinte thing, but trust me it's hilarious :) )
> 
> full disclosure - a good chunk of the Lutece dialogue is ripped straight from the games.


	9. In the House of Upside-Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel shows off her new powers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack  
> -You Do Something to Me by Cole Porter

**_Little Wonders Facility_ ** \- **1959**

 

“I have something to show you” Rachel whispered to Sarah, “but not here. Can we go to your room?” Sarah and Helena’s bedroom was one of the few rooms in the facility that wasn’t under constant surveillance, despite the presence of a camera. Tenenbaum had fixed the feed so it showed pre-recorded images of the twins innocently playing or reading to each other, or sleeping. Not only to give the girls some much needed privacy, but to help cover up all the times they were absent, on one of their little information-gathering adventures for her. Of course, it was set up so she  _ could  _ turn the feed back to live if she needed to check on the girls, hidden under layers of security codes

Helena frowned at Rachel, then remembered her silent promise and pressed her lips together, sighed, and asked “Is it a new book?”  She had enjoyed Frankenstein last week - a monster who wasn’t really a monster, and a doctor who was. Rachel lifted her eyebrows. She had come prepared with cookies she’d filched from the small staff room where the doctors drank their coffees and complained about the Duncans. She didn’t care what they said about her parents. They had no idea about  _ anything. _

“No...something else. Can we?” She held out the cookies with a stiff arm, as if she didn’t dare come too close. Helena grinned and took them.

“Okay” she said around a mouthful of chocolate chips. Sarah smiled fondly at her sister and took the hand that wasn’t all crumby, then grabbed Rachel's hand as well, and the three of them headed for the twins bedroom. Rachel didn’t let it show but internally she was grinning as wide as Helena. Sarah had never held her hand before. Apart from the constant prodding and squeezing of the various doctors, no one else laid hands on her. She’d never wanted anyone too, before now. Sarah was special...like her. And their fingers intertwined like...like they belonged together. Rachel sensed Helena’s gaze on her, like the golden eyes could see right through her. She swallowed, then remembered she shouldn’t be scared of Helena anymore. She’d never be scared of anyone, ever. Not with what she could do now.

But when she turned her head to glare back at Helena, she was surprised to find the girls mouth turned up at the corner in a sympathetic manner, the glow in her eyes ebbing. Sarah stopped and freed her hands to operate the keypad that opened their door. Behind her, Helena reached out and patted Rachel’s shoulder in a wary manner, as if attempting to comfort her. Rachel edged away, still confused about the girl's sudden shift in attitude. Helena shrugged and entered the bedroom as Sarah opened the door. The interior was pink -  pink striped wallpaper, a large round pink rug, matching beds with metal frames and pink covers. (Although the twins would usually end up sleeping in the same bed.) Toys, books, crayons and paper lay haphazardly  around the room. Rachel couldn’t help her lips tightening at the sight, being an incredibly tidy child herself, she had no taste for the chaotic. 

Sarah clapped her hands. “What’s the surprise, Rachel? It must be something good!” She dropped her voice. “Are you getting a new Daddy too?” Rachel opened her mouth. Then closed it. She’d never told the twins anything more than her parents were doctors, and worked in another area of DYAD. The twins seemed to understand that she didn’t want to talk about them, and didn’t pry. So how did Sarah know how Rachel felt about her father? That she sometimes wished for a new father, one who would read to her again and talk to her like he used to.

She shook her head indignantly. “Don’t be silly. I already have a daddy!” She clenched her fists by her side, feeling the power roiling away inside her. Breathing out, she unclenched her hands and smiled, the brief flash of anger gone. 

“I wanted to show you...this.”

She held her left hand out, flexed her wrist, clicked her fingers...and small flames sprouted, flickering. Sarah gasped, and Helena grew wide-eyed, reaching her hand out to not-quite-touch the flames, laughing when she felt the heat. 

“Does it hurt?” Sarah asked wonderingly..

“Only the first time.” Rachel answered loftily. “And look, I can do...this too.” She held her hands up and sent icy wisps into the air, not wanting to make the room too cold. The twins both ‘ooed’.

Then her hands snapped with electrical currents. Helena couldn’t help herself this time and poked her hand, crying out “Ow!” and snatching it away when she got zapped. Sucking on her finger, she glowered at Rachel’s hand. 

“Oh ‘lena, be careful.” scolded Sarah, putting an arm around her sister. Helena snuggled into her shoulder, poking her tongue out at Rachel, but with no rancor behind it. Sarah put her head on the side, considering. 

“Your mummy and daddy do this to you, didn’t they? Aren’t they worried you’ll get sick like the splicers outside?”

“Not at all. They’ve been following a very strict procedure,” Rachel recalled all the boring speeches her mother had given her, “...careful layering of the plasmids over an extended amount of time, along with a slow and gradual exposure to the ADAM…”

Sarah interrupted. “So, does that mean you’re a Little Sister, like us, now?” Before Rachel could answer, Helena said “No. She’s not like us.” She tilted her head. “We don’t have a connection, not like we do with the other girls.”

Sarah considered this, then nodded. 

“But there is something. I get...a funny feeling sometimes. Like I can feel what you’re feeling. But I can’t talk to you in my head. Not like with ‘lena….and I felt something the other day...it must have been when they did this to you.” Sarah hadn’t listened very closely when they’d been spying through the vents - she’d been watching Rachel and wondering how she kept her face so inscrutable. If she’d had to sit and listen to Susan Duncan droning on, there’d be scowling and fidgeting, and Helena would be kicking at the chair legs. Now she felt like she’d missed something important.

Rachel’s mouth dropped open, just a little bit. She couldn’t feel anything like that. There was no ‘connection’ at all on her end...that wasn’t  _ fair.  _ She rallied immediately. “Yes! I feel it too!” she exclaimed. Helena got a funny look on her face, like she knew Rachel was lying, but she merely glanced sidelong at Sarah and said nothing. Rachel thought about the moment of timelessness and infinity she had experienced, and wondered if that had been what Sarah had felt. And why couldn’t she feel this connection? There was obviously something special about the twins and the way they reacted to the ADAM. Most of the other Little Sisters were living in a near-hallucinatory state, while Sarah and Helena remained completely rational...for the most part.

But _ all  _ the Little Sisters were connected on a basic level; knowledge was passed along some kind of hive mind, and they knew when another girl was badly hurt, or harvested.

_ I have ADAM in me too,  _ Rachel thought, _ why doesn’t it work for me? Why can’t I feel anything? _

She suddenly felt more alone than she ever had. Swallowing the sudden bitterness, she smiled thinly and resumed speaking.

“I’m having training every day now, to learn how to use the plasmids properly...I don’t think it’s necessary, but mother insists. “ She noticed how Helena twisted her mouth when she mentioned her mother.  _ What was going on with her today _ ? 

“They keep running all kinds of tests. It’s so boring…” Rachel rolled her eyes. Sarah smiled sympathetically and took her hand again. Rachel blinked, then smiled again with real warmth. 

Suddenly Sarah jerked her hand away. “Ouch!” She exclaimed, cradling her hand. 

“You zapped me!”

“I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry Sarah…” Rachel trailed off, aghast at herself.  She lifted her hands and looked at them. When she looked up again, Helena was an inch away, her eyes burning gold and furious.

“Maybe you do need training, Rachel,” she said in a low voice. “Like...like a naughty puppy!”

Behind Helena, Sarah gave a snort. 

Rachel stared into Helena’s eyes, and her fingers tingled. For a moment she was tempted to show her what she could  _ really _ do. Her eyes flicked to Sarah, and then she lowered her gaze.

“Honestly, Helena, I didn’t mean it. I would never hurt Sarah on purpose. Maybe...you’re right about the training.” she paused, “...not about the puppy thing though.”

Sarah snorted laughter again, and Helena’s mouth twitched. Then she nodded, and stepped back, putting a protective arm around her sister's shoulders.  _ Are you really ok Sarah  _ she asked silently. _ I’m fine, really, ‘lena _ , then out loud Sarah continued “It was just like...when you smoosh your feet in the carpet then touch the doorknob. Just a shock, that’s all.”

Rachel tightened her lips and clasped her hands behind her back, annoyed with herself for losing control, even for a second. _ Stupid, stupid. _ She silently thanked Dr Tenenbaum for making sure the twins room wasn’t being watched. Her mother - and Suchong - would have a field day with this little incident.

“I had better go. My next session is at three o’clock.” Rachel said evenly, hiding her distress.

“Bye!” said Helena immediately. Sarah sighed and squeezed her hand, then stepped over to Rachel.

“Don’t feel bad,” she said, and Rachel remembered with dismay that the other girl could sense her feelings. “I know you didn’t mean it.” She leaned even closer, Rachel observing how pretty her golden-amber eyes looked, then Sarah clumsily pecked her on the cheek. She could hear Helena making gagging noises in the distance.

Rachel’s hands were still behind her back, so the twins couldn’t see the tiny flames that danced along her fingertips for the barest moment. She breathed, and the flames vanished as she pulled the power back in. She couldn’t stop the blush rising up her cheeks though. 

_ Better,  _ she thought. _ but…  _

She hated to admit her mother was right, but she needed greater control over these powers.

She needed to be  _ perfect.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little (monster) girls :)


	10. Time rots everything. Even hope.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helena is sad :(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack -  
> Symphony-Concerto in E Minor, Op 125 by Sergei Prokofiev

_**Helena -** _ **1966**

When Helena teleported, she thought that this was what the sky must feel like, a vast purple emptiness that took your breath away. She had never seen the sky, or the sun - except in films, of course, and pictures in books. The closest she had ever been to land was in Arcadia. The gardens there were one of her favourite places to go at night. They were quiet and green, and there was a special corner with no surveillance cameras. The trees and ground plants had overgrown and interlaced to form a natural barrier that the splicers couldn’t breach, and she could sit on the grass, or in one of the trees, and just...be.

There were no birds in Rapture - not anymore - but there were butterflies, and bees, and Helena liked to lie on the grass and watch them flutter and buzz their way around the flowers that had grown wild since the war. The orchards and vegetable gardens, too, had spread out and prospered, meaning she never had to go hungry...although she also regularly hit up the various vending machines for the delicious Pep Bars and Cream-Filled Cakes that had been her favourites since she could remember. When they had been in the orphanage, Sarah would sometimes steal change from the purses of the meaner staff members, and sneak out to buy Helena something sweet. Helena sighed and traced stick figures in a patch of dirt under a tree. She thought that this hole inside her would never go away, no matter how many pep bars she ate. 

She didn’t use the teleport power unless she really had to, unless she needed to get to a Little Sister  _ fast.  _ It made her feel a little sick afterwards, and she could get around easily enough as it was. Rolling over, she stared up at the ceiling through the leaves. It was solid here, no window to the ocean, with diffuse lighting for the vegetation. Helena thought about Sarah, how they had roamed Arcadia, picking flowers and chasing butterflies, while their Daddy had stood guard. 

When she realized her hands were trembling, she stretched her legs and arms before leaping to a standing position. Bending forward to touch her toes, then arching backwards and touching her heels. When she had gone through puberty, five years ago, the hormones had reacted with the ADAM in her system to turn her into...this. 

Strength, speed, flexibility, agility. Teleportation, telekinesis. A scream that pierced minds. And she was tall - the last time she had seen Rachel, Helena had towered over her, making those silver eyes flash with something like fear...and a taste of something like envy. She felt a stab of pity. Maybe...maybe she should go and see her again. Maybe she wouldn’t be afraid this time...if Helena was a monster, then so was she, and why should monsters fear each other? 

_ No.  _ Someone was still sending Little Sisters out to collect extra ADAM. It must be Rachel. There was no one else left, apart from splicers who had survived Rapture’s civil war. And she can’t know how to make new Big Daddies to protect them so she was sending them out alone, and vulnerable. And they were so young - even younger than she and Sarah had been. How could she be so careless with the little ones? Of course, Rachel had never been one of them. She didn’t understand.  _ I guess her parents didn’t teach her everything.  _ Helena sighed. She could easily kill Rachel, even with all the power the other girl had, but…

She thought about Sarah again. And skimmed her way up the wall to a balcony, ran the length of it, launched herself off the end, and shimmied up the opposite wall to then backflip onto the next level up. Sometimes, she just had to  _ move. _

Sweeping around a corner, she ran towards the hidey-hole at the end of the corridor, clambering inside. She was tall, but the tunnels were roomy enough. She slithered along, the way ingrained in her muscles. Left here, forward for three sections, right here, down two levels, straight ahead. Coming to an opening covered by a grill, she peered out, carefully and quietly swinging the cover outwards. No one was there, and she slid out of the opening. This place was home, for want of a better word. A large room with several bunk beds, old toys and books scattered everywhere. She’d taken some of the bunks apart and pushed several of the beds together to make one long enough for her to lie on without her feet dangling off the edge. 

One door led to a short hallway with a bathroom and small kitchen opening off it. The only entry now was through that one vent. This had been the safe room that Maty had brought all the girls she had rescued to. This was the last place in Rapture Sarah had been. They had left her an accu-vox message on the chance that Helena would one day find it. She had listened to it so often it was nearly worn out.

Behind the accu-vox, there was an oddly shaped glass beaker - a remnant from the lab - which held flowers in various states of desiccation, the freshest being a red tulip that Helena placed there two days ago. An ornate silver frame held a photo of the twins when they had first come to Little Wonders, arms wrapped around each other, tremulous, hopeful smiles on their faces. There was a Big Daddy doll, baseball for a head, thimble and corkscrew for a drill, next to more silver frames. 

One encircled Brigid Tenenbaum, an early photo of her with dark wavy hair and a touch of glamour. A small oval showed the twins with their Big Daddy, one sitting on either shoulder and waving at the camera. A rectangular frame, half-hidden behind the others, displayed Sarah, Helena, and Rachel. Sarah sat in the middle, slouching, a touch of a smirk visible, Helena to her left, leaning against Sarah's shoulder and grinning. Rachel sat on her right, legs folded neatly, hands clasped in her lap. Her face was turned towards Sarah as if she'd been distracted just as the camera clicked, a polite smile turning into a laugh under the smooth blonde hair.

Helena stood at the desk in the corner, reverently touching her fingers to the small machine, then pressed the **PLAY** button.

“Helena, my little sestra, my ангел*, we have no choice but to leave, right now. We cannot get to you and-” there were voices interjecting in the background here, “-if you manage to escape the DYAD and find your way to this place, know that we will come back for you. Be brave.” There was a scuffling sound and then - Helena closed her eyes - “‘lena? ‘lena? Where are you? Don’t worry, I know you’re ok, and Maty says we’ll get you back!” sobbing, “I miss you so much ‘lena, my tummy hurts, I miss you I love you I love you ‘lena…” The recording cut off here and Helena dropped onto the nearest beds. Her golden eyes glistened with tears. 

She curled up on her side and let her hair hang over her face, pulling at her bottom lip with trembling fingers.   _ I miss you Sarah  _ she thought.  _ I miss you I Love you I love you I love I Love… _ eventually she fell asleep, exhausted. A few Little Sisters crept in during the night, ones she had saved and who now kept to the safe room and a few other select areas. They quietly gathered up blankets, and tucked them around their sleeping Big Sister. One started singing in a gentle voice and stroked Helena's frizzy halo of hair when she began twitching in her sleep -

                                      " _ In the house of upside down _

_                                      Cellar's top floor, attic's ground. _

_                                     In the house of upside down _

_                                   Laughing cries and smiles frown. _

_                                 In the house of upside down _

_                               Found is lost and lost is found. _ "

When she was quiet again, all the Little Sisters wormed their way under the blankets and snuggled up around Helena, like a pile of worn out puppies. 

In the morning when they woke, she was gone, but there was a pile of Pep Bars on the desk.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *angel
> 
>  
> 
> Helena is sad and I am sad :'(


	11. We were all buried at sea. We just didn’t know it yet.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel Duncan and the remains of DYAD.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack  
> -Cello Sonata #1 by L.V Beethoven (rec. recording - Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax)

_Rachel_ \- **1966**

 

The labs and offices of DYAD, or at least what remained of them, were quiet and dimly lit at this time of the night. But they were quiet during the day hours as well, just brighter,

Rachel walked down a corridor, her heels clicking on the tiles. Her reflection wavered over the rows of mirrored windows, and glass-paneled doors that opened into empty rooms. Some of the rooms were full of shattered glass, topsy-turvy furniture, scorch-marks on the walls.

It’s not like she needed to sleep. Not very much, at any rate.  The ADAM gave her the ability to stay awake for extended periods of time, although eventually her head would feel like it was going to split open. She still went to bed every night, in some attempt at normality.

In the deathly quiet of the building, she could hear the power simmering away inside her as she lay in bed, a faint hissing and zapping and whispering deep down. _Or was she finally succumbing to the same delusions of the common splicers?_ No. No, she was fine.

She still had a lingering dread of waking up with the bed aflame, which was _ridiculous_ , really, she had _complete_ control over herself now. When she did sleep, her dreams were full of jumbled images - _golden eyes, silver eyes, her face mirrored so many times she didn’t know which was real, Sarah was there, her back turned, Rachel slamming her fists against the glass, screaming, Sarah turns and smiles and it’s Helena snarling, fire oh god the fire_

So, the early hours of the morning would find her stalking the halls, checking doors and making sure the vents were still blocked off, sitting in front of the bank of surveillance monitors, searching for anything out in the city that wasn’t splicer-shaped. The remaining Little Sisters were locked in their bedrooms at night - she couldn’t have them wandering all over the place, leaving crumbs in her lab and whining about their Daddies - and a cursory check was all that was needed.

Sometimes she would spool through the archives of footage from the facility, watching her younger self move around the common room, small face looking this way and that as she searched for Sarah; the three of them eating in the dining hall, Sarah always giving Helena her dessert; the day she had first read to them, Sarah's hair tickling against her legs; when everything had been _perfect._ She would watch until her eyes burned. She never cried.

Then she would return to her lab and run her daily tests on herself, checking her ADAM stability, her EVE levels, plasmid strength. Apart from that, her special project was coming along nicely. She would soon run out of test subjects, but that was a problem for another day.

Even before DYAD fell, Rachel had gotten _very_ good at deciphering the various codes that the doctors had used, and she’d listened to all the accu-voxs that had been left behind, scoured every notebook she could find.

As ambivalent as her feelings about her parents were, she had to credit them for giving her a proper education. Even though it had taken a back-seat when they decided to make her a guinea pig. Her mouth tightened for a moment. Still, she picked up a lot during her treatment. Many of the doctors weren't as scrupulous as her mother when it came to discretion, or they were the type of adult who actually believed children couldn’t understand words of more than three syllables.

Discovering one of Dr Tenenbaums notebooks hidden away in her old office had been a delightful surprise. She hadn’t expected to find anything of value left in there...but then, they did leave in quite a hurry. Breaking her special codes had taken longer than any of the others. Rachel admired the woman's intelligence...even while she hated her for taking away Sarah. _If they’d just waited an hour or two, I could have gone with them,_ she thought, as she had a million times since that day. _Why didn’t they wait, I could have gotten Helena out and we all could have gone, together._

Staring at her notes, she clenched her hands until the nails dug into the palms, then sighed and opened them, flexing one to produce small flames. Rachel moved her fingers slowly, staring at the flames as they flickered. She held her hand flat, palm upwards, and concentrated until the flames gathered into a sphere, then flicked her wrist and sent the fireball upwards. It hit the ceiling and splashed harmlessly outwards, rippling flames that died as they spread.

This room was fireproof, of course. She’d made certain of that. Especially after -

Her head whipped around at an unfamiliar sound coming from somewhere down the corridor. It was an alarm, of sorts, a soft _beep-beep-beep_ coming from down the hallway.

Rachel’s first thought was _Helena. She’s inside._

Then she shook her head. The entire building was secure. And Helena either couldn’t or wouldn’t teleport inside. She was safe. She was safe. So, what was that sound?

Rachel moved swiftly, heels clicking faster and faster down the corridor as she moved towards the surveillance room. Her reflection matched her step for step in the glass. There was a small blue light flashing on one of the panels. She pressed the button next to it and silenced the alarm, then started flicking through the various channels. Screen after screen flashed as she scanned for anything out of the ordinary. Her fingers were moving over the buttons so fast they were almost a blur, then-

_There -_

There it was. A bathysphere sat in dock. She laughed. It sounded rusty. Rachel hadn't laughed for a very long time.

“Is it someone...new?” she murmured, “or someone old? Today we are silver, tomorrow gold.” The words tripped out of her mouth like some old nursery rhyme, but Rachel couldn’t remember ever learning it.

She hadn’t seen a bathysphere for years, not since…

“...Sarah?”

Was it possible?

Rachel could see a figure inside, moving, then it disappeared from view. Her hands clenched, released, clenched, released. The figure moved in front of the door again, seeming to study the area outside. Then the door opened slowly and out they stepped. It was dark down there and the figure stayed in the shadows as they walked warily up the red-lined dock. The camera zoomed in, as far as possible, as the figure walked into a pool of reflected neon, the light on the mane of dark hair flashing blue and red. Then they turned their face and Rachel stopped breathing.

Sarah. She was here. She was really here. The image was grainy but it was her. She held a gun in one hand, and carried a backpack slung over her shoulder. Rachel stared at the screen, for a moment unable to think anything except - _she’s so...beautiful._ A heat that had nothing to do with the plasmids ran through her body and for a moment she forgot that Sarah had _left_ her here, had just _left_ her. For a moment it didn’t matter at all.

Sarah looked left, then right, then turned left.

Rachel’s skin hummed, her fingers flexing automatically, tiny sparks crackling. When she reached out to touch the screen, tiny lightning bolts arched from her fingers. Flicking her hands impatiently, the electricity subsided, but now Sarah was gone.

Her hands gripped the back of the chair, wanting to pick up it up and smash the screens in with it, wanting to scream. Her eyes flicked over the bank of monitors, searching for movement but found nothing. She could feel her skin ripple with fire as her anger grew sharper.

_Helena will get to Sarah first and then, they will leave me behind,_ she thought, _again._

The tiny sliver of fear inside her shivered and sighed, but her anger coiled around it like a snake.

Her fingernails tapped on the desk as she considered her options, light from the monitors reflected in the silver polish. Distract Helena with more Little Sisters, and head Sarah off. Bring Sarah back here. _Show her what I…_ She made an exasperated sound and closed her eyes. Helena will _know_ her sister is here as soon as Sarah sets foot in Rapture, and nothing would stop her.

_I’ll just have to get to Sarah first._

_No matter what._


	12. Connected by a love that kills.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The True Triumverate™ out and about in Rapture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack - We Three (my echo, my shadow, and me) by The Ink Spots

_**Rapture** _ \- **1960**

 

The twins ran along the corridor, giggling, their Big Daddy clunking along as he tried to keep up. Skidding to a stop, Sarah peered around the corner, while Helena put her fingers to her lips and loudly said “Shhh, Mr Bubbles!”

The mechanical man slowed and made a low rumbling sound.

“I love you too Daddy.” Helena said while patting his arm, then tip-toed up behind her sister and teasingly grabbed her long dark braids.

_Can you see them?_ she asked Sarah silently.

_Yes. They’re wearing funny masks, ‘lena! And fancy clothes!_

Sarah stared at the splicers. Part of the Little Sisters ‘treatment’ made the splicers appear as glamorous, glowing angelic figures. But Sarah could see the reality of them, if she concentrated. Like so many of them, they were still in their finery and masks from the New Year's Eve masquerade ball. The night of the riots and the real beginning of the civil war. The clothing was torn and tattered, the blood-splattered masks becoming more grotesque as the wearers slipped further into unreality. One of them was muttering to himself while he walked in a tight circle.

“I could start a business down here... it’s not too late... yeah, not too late…”

It was only a small group, four splicers, and none of them seemed to be armed with anything more than crowbars and knives. Sarah frowned. But odds were, at least one of them had Electro-Bolt up their sleeves and that was bad for Daddy. They’d managed to get away from the last lot easily, but it meant they couldn’t go back that way. They needed to get through this corridor and across the atrium, then there was a hidey-hole for them to escape through. The splicers generally didn’t mess with a Big Daddy if he didn’t have a Little Sister with him. They just wanted the ADAM and the Daddies didn’t have any.

Sarah had been hit with Incinerate once before and didn’t want to repeat the experience. Although the ADAM’s regenerative qualities meant the Little Sisters were, for all intents and purposes, unkillable, they still felt pain. And being set on fire was _quite_ painful. The splicer that had attacked Sarah hadn’t lived to regret it, between the Big Daddy and Helena’s retaliation.

Mostly Helena’s.

When Sarah had come around, the splicer was dead and Helena was cradling Sarah’s head in her lap, humming, her face smeared with blood.

Sarah had laughed at the sight.

“Did you _eat_ him, ‘lena” she’d asked in a teasing voice.

Helena had screwed up her face in mock disgust.

“Eww, no” she cried, before dropping her voice to a dramatic whisper, “I gave him darkness.” The two of them giggled, safe in the green glow of their Daddy’s visor.

Now, the visor glowed amber as he waited patiently for his wards to move forward.

 

                                           ⇌  ⇌  ⇌

 

Rachel smiled smugly as she slipped out of the Little Wonders facility via a side-door. She’d discovered that the numerous security cameras and electronically sealed doors were quite easily by-passed with a short zap of electricity from her hands. She couldn’t see any good reason for her not to go outings with the twins and their Daddy. Rachel could help protect them too! She was just as good as the big metal man - better, even.

The sharp lines of her blonde hair framed her face, as she looked around a corner, then walked quickly towards the open doorway ahead that led to the atrium. Mother hardly let her out anymore and she got bored when Sarah wasn’t around. Giving her monitor the slip was simple enough. The pointy-faced man in horn-rimmed glasses was easily manipulated - almost disappointingly so. Mother could have given her more of a challenge. Rachel sighed, then paused and turned right. If she knew the twins, they’d be in the Arcadia Tea Rooms, making their way through the tinned sweets still lining the shelves in the storerooms.

It was easy to forget how much Rapture had changed. DYAD had remained more or less untouched so far, thanks to their fast-acting security protocols and fortified outer walls. But outside the gleaming glass was a city descending into ruin. Broken windows in shopfronts, blood-splattered walls, bodies left lying where they fell, the ocean slowly leaking in from a thousand tiny holes, the distant screams of splicers. She smiled as she turned another corner and saw a group of four of them.

Good. She could always use the practice.

Then she saw two small faces appear across the way, peering around a corner at the splicers, and her smile grew wider. Quickly appraising the situation, Rachel saw the large puddle of water to the left of the splicers. Now, if they would kindly move that way, she could…her attention was caught by Sarah waving at her vigorously, a grin on her face. Helena’s face appeared below Sarah's, fingers pulling the sides of her mouth in a grimace and poking her tongue out. Rachel ignored her, trying to explain to Sarah via a complicated series of hand gestures that she wanted the splicers in the water.

Sarah nodded, grabbed Helenas hand and silently spoke to her, then they readied themselves. Rachel nodded once, and the twins ran around the corner and along the shopfronts to the left of the splicer group. Helena was whooping loudly, her now-blonde braids bouncing on her shoulders as she scampered up the stairs leading to the atrium, Sarah close behind.

The twins Big Daddy appeared, stomping after them. The splicers vacillated, but the lure of the ADAM the two little girls carried within them drove them to give chase. One wore a rabbit mask that was missing an ear, another had a glittering silver butterfly covering her face. Her dress was mostly intact but stained with soot and blood. The men were still in their tuxes, but these too were in a sad state. One screamed after the girls,

“I’m lonely! I’m lonely!”

As all four of the splicers ran across the water puddle, Rachel let loose the electricity from both her hands. The water amplified the effect and the four bodies shook and jittered, the shock visibly running through their bodies. The BIg Daddy reached them as they collapsed, and finished all four of them off with his drill, while the twins clapped and laughed.

They held hands as they ran back down the stairs, syringes ready to collect ADAM from the corpses.

“Oh, Mr B,” Helena said in a delighted voice, “We hit the jackpot!”

An expression almost like disgust passed over Rachel's face, but when Sarah looked at her, her face was its usual unfathomable self. She understood why the collection of ADAM from the corpses around the city was necessary, but she still found the process unpalatable...and the way the Sisters _drank_ the substance! Rachel shuddered slightly, but brightened as Sarah took her hand.

“That was so clever of you, Rachel,” she said admiringly. “You should come out on our harvesting trips all the time!”

Rachel smiled proudly, while in the background, Helena chirped away to the Big Daddy.

“I wanna see the sunshine...show me the sunshine!”

“Yes, I should,” sniffed Rachel. “I don’t know why they even bothered to give me these powers if they won’t allow me to use them.”

Helena drank the last of the collected ADAM, and then said in a curious voice,

“What’s sunshine look like, Mr B?”

The Big Daddy moved his huge armored arms in a gesture that suggested a shrug. Helena put a finger to her lips and gazed up into the air for a moment, then she shrugged as well. Looking around, she saw Sarah and Rachel holding hands _again,_ and rolled her eyes. She skipped over to the girls and threw her arm around Sarah's shoulders.

“We should go будинки,”* she said, “No more angels to play with.”

Rachel gave her a small frown.

“Why _do_ all of you call the splicers ‘angels’? They’re _monsters.”_

Helena eyed her curiously.

“You can’t see their wings?” she asked.

“...wings.” Rachel said blankly, looking at Sarah with raised eyebrows.

Sarah nodded. The three of them started making their way towards the hidey-hole.

“They look like angels, to us,” Sarah explained. “All...glowy.” She dropped her voice.

“But I can see them, _really_ see them. And Helena probably can too, but she doesn’t want to.” She glanced sideways at her sister and smiled.

“She likes the angels better.”

“I can hear them singing their pretty songs.” Helena stated loftily. She broke away from Sarah and Rachel, and spun around like a ballerina, laughing.

They reached the hidey-hole. The Big Daddy was waiting for them, and helped boost them up into the vent. It was the first time Rachel had seen inside the tunnels. (And it would be her last too.) The enclosed space made her slightly uncomfortable, so she was relieved when the journey was over fairly quickly. They exited right into the twins bedroom - Helena, who was in front, pushed aside a poster (Always stay close to a friend!) that was hanging over the vent opening and they all crawled out.

Rachel blinked. She had never realised there was a hidey-hole in here before. It was hidden behind posters that Rachel had never paid much attention to. The story book-type art and simple slogans (Daddy is so strong! Always safe with Daddy! All good girls gather!) were part of the Little Sister program - a constant reminder of their pair-bond and purpose.

“Let’s go see if there’s any cake left!” cajoled Helena, tugging on Sarah’s hand, and the three of them exited into the hallway - where Rachel's monitor was waiting, glowering at the girls over his glasses.

Rachel reluctantly let go of Sarah's other hand and said quietly,

“I think I might be in trouble.”

Helena moved her face close to Rachel's and whispered,

“Why don’t you just -”, she wriggled her fingers, “ _zap_ him?”

“Because, Helena, “ Rachel hissed, “Then I would be in even _more_ trouble.”

“With your mother? You should zap her too!” Helena declared, crossing her arms across her chest.

Rachel actually considered that image for a moment. The dumbfounded look of betrayal on her mother’s face as the monster she created rises up against her...a smile tugged at her mouth before she stopped it. Helena saw it though, and gave a half smile back.

Rachel sighed and said “I had better go with him. I don’t want to cause trouble for you as well.”

Sarah squeezed her hands and nodded.

Rachel stepped forward, and her monitor put his hand on her shoulder to lead her away. Her skin crawled under his touch and she had to breathe down the impulse to take Helena's advice.

“Your mother is not going to be pleased with you, Rachel.” he said, attempting to sound threatening.

Rachel made a noncommittal _mmm_ sound and then said, in a perfectly pleasant voice,

“I imagine she would not be pleased with you either, considering you’re incapable of performing the singular job of keeping an eye on me.”

The man’s face darkened even more, and Rachel smiled with satisfaction.

“Besides, “ she continued, “I was only spending time with my friends, just as my father wants. There’s really no need for _either_ of us to annoy mother with stories, Fergus.”

“Ferdinand.” the man snapped at her.

“Of course. Ferdinand.” Rachel smiled, the practised smile that slid across her teeth like a lie.

He let go of her shoulder ( _at last,_ she thought _),_ and in a somewhat sulky voice told her to not to be late for her next session before striding off. She watched him as he walked away, idly imagining unleashing her powers on him.

She smiled again, and this time it was genuine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *home
> 
> Thought it was worth including this entire quote (from memory, it was from an accu-vox recording) -
> 
> “We must find a method of conditioning them against abandonment of the Little Sisters. Something physical… possibly even lethal. The lab aides are starting to call them ‘Big Daddies.’ Perhaps there’s some genius to that. Bonded pairs, connected by a love that kills.”


	13. We swim in different oceans, but land on the same shore.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel and Helena...talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack - The Swan by Camille Saint-Saëns

**DYAD** - _1962_

 

Rachel stared through the glass.

 

Helena, head tilted, stared back at her.

 

The glass was one way. Rachel had checked. Helena couldn’t see her, she _couldn’t._ But every time Rachel moved, Helena’s eyes followed her. Those eyes. Since Sarah had disappeared - had _abandoned_ them - Helena's eyes hadn’t been ebbing and flowing with the glow as before, but had been steadily gleaming gold. She was looking less and less human all the time, Rachel thought.

 

She had overheard her mother and Suchong discussing Helena, how her extreme emotional state had been feeding into the effect of the ADAM on her system, and now, with having reached an age, hormones were reacting with both aspects and she was - changing. The first Little Sister to reach puberty was a valuable source of data for DYAD. Rachel counted herself lucky that it wasn’t having the same effect on her. _Or I’d be locked in there with her._ The next thought came unbidden - _maybe then they’d pay attention to me again_

 

Helena had moved closer to the glass and stretched her fingers out, tracing a pattern on the window. Rachel frowned, trying to decipher it. Her own hand reached out and she followed Helena’s fingers with her own. Until she realised that the other girl was tracing stick figures on the glass, stick figures of two little girls, over and over. Rachel’s hand faltered.

 

Helena stopped when Rachel did, moved even closer and spoke. What Suchong referred to as ‘the cage’ was soundproof but naturally, there was a security camera and Rachel could hear her via intercom.

 

 _Sestra_?

 

Rachel pushed the button and spoke.

 

“No, Helena. It’s me. Sarah is gone. You know she is.”

 

_Біль. потрібна моя сестра. потрібно знайти її. випусти мене.* Now._

 

Rachel’s brow furrowed slightly. She had picked up a little Ukranian from the twins and Dr Tenenbaum, and recognized the word for ‘sister’ and ‘hurt’, and the phrase ‘let me out’ had been repeated so often now by Helena that the entire staff they had left here knew it. She had screamed it at them for weeks.

 

‘Helena. You know I can’t let you out. If mother even knew I was speaking to you…”

 

The golden eyes looked at her unblinkingly. Helena's lips curled downwards, then she suddenly slammed her hand against the glass, making Rachel flinch. She stalked away from the window, her hair lit up by the fluorescent lights. It was almost completely white-blond now. And she was - was it possible? - taller than she was a week ago, when Rachel had last visited.

 

Sneaking down here in the middle of the night, just to - what? Look at Helena? See that she wasn’t Sarah and be heartbroken and furious all over again? Rachel sighed and put her hand to her face.

 

 _Stupid, stupid_ she sighed at herself, icy cold fingers scoring faint lines down her cheek. All she managed to accomplish was Helena’s anger, and the waste of her own time. It had been over a year since Dr Tenenbaum had disappeared with a group of Little Sisters, and Helena still expected Sarah to just appear one day and save her. _Stupid_ thought Rachel bitterly, burying the same hope deep down in the pit of her stomach, underneath the fire and the ice and the lightning. All she wanted to hold onto was the anger.

 

She should just leave Helena down here in the cage for the doctors to prod and measure and take samples from. Why should she _care_ about her? She wasn’t Sarah. She wasn’t Sarah. To her horror, Rachel felt tears pricking at her eyes.

 

She gently slapped her own face, her hand like a block of ice.

 

_Sestra. Sestra-Rachel._

 

Helena’s voice was quiet. She had come back to the window and splayed both her hands on it.

 

 _I know you miss her too. Let me out, and we can go and find her, together. Our сім'я._ *

 

Rachel hesitated.

 

Then she pressed her finger down on the intercom button.

 

“ _Your_ family.” she snapped. “ _I_ already have a family.”

 

She heard Helena scoff with laughter, as if she knew exactly how Rachel felt about her parents. Oh. Of course, she did. Of course she would share Sarah’s ability to sense her emotions. Was there _nothing_ Rachel had that was hers alone? She was so sick of being stuck here in DYAD, while splicers roamed free around Rapture, tearing the city apart. She looked through the glass at Helena again. Now she was kneeling on the floor in the middle of the room, her back to the window. If Rachel had ever heard of prayer, that’s what she would have thought Helena was doing.

 

                                                ⇌  ⇌  ⇌

 

Helena knelt on the padded floor. The bad man called it the cage. There were no bars, but it was a cage nethertheless. The walls were thickly padded, but with - she closed her eyes - solid brick and iron underneath, as was the door, barred and locked and sealed with a password. The mirrored window was the weak point but that too was thick with layers of glass and wire. She didn’t quite understand what was happening to her body, but she could feel herself growing stronger every day. And she knew to hide the extent of it from her captors.

 

Her senses too had...expanded? Helena could now not only read Rachel’s emotions - and that had grown exponentially easier in the last year, (That strange underlay of fear, deep down under a heavy layer of anger and disdain and wrapped around a very small core of...loneliness?) - but she could sense everyone else's. It wasn’t like reading thoughts, not like with Sarah, but she could read their intentions.

 

None of them were good.

 

Rachel was a puzzle. Helena knew the other girl loved her sister, she could feel that pouring off Rachel in waves, it _hurt,_ because now it was all twisted up with betrayal and abandonment and hatred and a continually simmering rage. And she hated Helena for not being Sarah, but kept coming back down here to see her. Like she was expecting to find Helena gone and Sarah in her place.

If Rachel would only let her out and help her find Sarah...but she wouldn’t.

 

She wouldn’t use her powers against the people that were keeping them both here and Helena couldn’t quite grasp _why._ If she could do what Rachel could do, DYAD would have burnt to the ground already. She rolled her shoulders back in a kind of shrug. No matter. Soon, she would be strong enough to get out of the cage on her own, and then she would rip this place apart to find Sarah. And if she had really left Rapture, as Rachel had told her, then Helena would find a way to leave too.

 

It was almost unfathomable that Sarah had left without her. _Something terrible must have happened_ thought Helena. And now she was so far away, too far, to hook into. The severing of their ADAM-driven psychic connection had been almost unbearable - she had been in a daze for weeks afterwards - but she still _knew_ that her sister was alive. The knowledge sat in her, like a tiny clenched fist in her heart, holding a grain of hope.

 

She could feel Rachel still standing there, behind the mirror. They were going to catch her down here, one of these nights. _Then she will wish she she had let me out._ Helena smiled, in a grim sort of way, then started humming Sarah’s favourite song. She could feel Rachel’s anger ebb, a kind of bitter sadness flowing into its place.

She heard Rachel whisper

_you’re a monster_

Her voice was thin and tremulous, as if trying to convince herself.

 

Then she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Hurt. Need my sister. Need to find her. Let me out  
> *family
> 
> I love this chapter, even though nothing really happens. I love these two interacting. I love them!


	14. If you can’t come in from the cold, then you gotta grow ice over your heart.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel Duncan is offered an opportunity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack - The Seasons (June) by Tchaikovsky

**_DYAD_** \- _1960_

 

Rachel pressed herself against the wall and edged closer to the window. Her mother was in her office, having a meeting with Dr Suchong, and Rachel suspected it had something to do with the twins. She could hear snatches of conversation - _unparalleled…genetic possibilities...production of ADAM...perfect candidate...Project Leda…_

 

She furrowed her brow. Project Leda? Surely she had seen that written down somewhere...or was she just remembering her Greek mythology lessons? Then she heard Sarah’s name and pressed her ear to the glass.

 

“No need for - the sister,” Suchong said in his clipped tones. “We take - Helena - only.”

 

“Are you certain? If we double up on the samples, it may benefit us later.”

 

Rachel could hear the slight wheedling note in her mother's’ voice, even if Suchong couldn’t. Mother didn't approve of her friendship with the twins; she saw the Little Sisters as an unfortunate necessity, to be utilized for ADAM and nothing more. It had been her father who insisted on Rachel having some kind of socialisation with other children, and he, at least, still recognised the girls as human. Or he had.

 

_I don’t think he sees any of us as human anymore. He spends all his time with the birds because they are what they are - a symbol of freedom locked in a cage. Like all of us._

 

Distracted, she had missed Suchong’s reply, then heard her mother say

 

“Very well. I daresay there will be some trouble in separating them - remember the last time?”

 

Suchong gave a short laugh.

 

“Aldous should have - been prepared. We will - not - have the same problem.”

 

Rachel felt a chill at the man’s words. Where they going to hurt Sarah? Or just take Helena away? To Sarah, those two things would be the same. She pressed the tips of her fingers to her lips.

She would have to tell them.

 

But she hesitated...if Helena was taken away - _not hurt_ , Rachel told herself, _just...gone_ \- then she would have Sarah all to herself. She would be upset, but surely, she would get over it eventually. She would have Rachel, why would she need anyone else? What _was_ Project Leda? Maybe it would only be temporary anyway?

Rachel moved away from her mother's office, absent-mindedly giving the closest security camera another short zap of electricity to keep it addled until she was gone. Feeling conflicted was a new and unwelcome experience for her, and she was starting to feel irritable. Deciding to head to the plasmid testing laboratory to vent her emotions with some practise, she missed seeing Suchong leave Susan's’ office, and spot her moving down the hallway. His eyes narrowed slightly behind his glasses.

 

Rachel had been in the lab for at least half an hour, going through her routine. (Incinerate: shoot flames; form and throw fireballs; mass flame: lay fire traps. Electro-Bolt: zap one target; utilize lightning chain to zap two or more targets; form and throw electrical spheres. Winter Blast: freeze targets...) She turned her head slightly when the door opened, saw it was Suchong from the corner of her eye, and was tempted to freeze him solid where he stood. Instead she inclined her chin and said politely,

“Doctor.”

 

He nodded back, and gave her a small smile that went nowhere near his eyes.

“Rachel. I would - like - to talk to you about - Sarah.” Suchong watched Rachel's face closely, but the only trace of disconcertation was the barest narrowing of her eyes.

 

“Sarah?” She kept her voice as nonchalant as she could.

 

“Yes. Now you - are - a very smart young lady. You  know - we are doing very - important work here. Yes?”

 

Rachel nodded. _Like I can’t hear the condescension in your voice, Doctor._

 

“...Yes. Now, your - little friends - are going to help us with - that. Helena has certain - qualities - that we need to study in - closer detail. “

Suchong had indeed been keeping an eye on Rachel, especially after she befriended the Manning twins. He had allowed Tenenbaum to keep him at a distance from them, and indulge the girls, (why the woman was allowing her emotions to overcome her scientific curiosity, he did not and could not understand…), patiently biding his time until the opportunity arose. As fascinating a study the mirror twins would make, the possibilities of Project Leda overruled all other priorities now.

 

A slight jab of jealousy poked Rachel. Why was Helena so important, anyway? What made _her_ so special?

She turned fully to face Dr Suchong and gazed at him unblinkingly.

 

“So, you want to take Helena away to study her. And what does that have to do with me?”

 

Suchong seemed amused.

“You are - close - to Sarah, yes? She will need your - support - during this. Twins can be - difficult - to separate.”

 

He was careful not to use the words ‘distraction’ or ‘betrayal’. But Rachel understood him nonetheless. When the time came, she would need to distract Sarah long enough for her sister to be stolen from her. And then she would be the one to comfort Sarah afterwards and wonder aloud about how this could have happened...

 

Suchong raised his eyebrows at Rachel. Hopefully the girl would take after her mother and detach herself from the emotional bonds that serve only to impede progress.

 

Rachel stared back at him, then tilted her head to the side.

“What is Project Leda?” she asked.

 

Suchong smiled tightly.

“Something that will mean a - better - life for us _all._ And nothing that need concern - you - yet.”

 

Rachel nodded, and spun a snowball in her hands.

“Sarah mustn’t know about this conversation,” she stated. “It could prove...dangerous.”

She shifted her hands slightly, and the snowball melted into air, then a sphere of fire rotated slowly between her fingers, her eyes glinting silver in the light. It took a lot to unnerve Suchong, but he felt a chill down his spine. Rachel’s voice was emotionless, unthreatening - but her eyes.

 

Then he shook it off. Ridiculous to be afraid of a mere child.

“Of course. I am glad we are in - agreement - Rachel.”

 

Rachel smirked as he hurried out of the room. She may not have the ability to read people's emotions but she could sense fear, like a shark with blood in the water. She then thought about what she had just agreed to, and her feeling of superiority plunged. If Sarah found out that they were planning to take Helena away...and that Rachel had known about it…

 

No. She would be fine. The twins couldn’t actually read her thoughts, so she would just have to keep herself shielded from any volatile emotions that they would pick up on. It wouldn’t be too long, it seemed, and then she would have Sarah to herself, and everything would be fine. It would be fine.

 

Rachel was still absentmindedly turning the fireball but it started to wobble and flare, the flames coming dangerously close to licking her face. She caught her own gaze in the mirrored window and her eyes were silver, solid silver. Her hands crackled and the fireball imploded in her hands.

 

She stopped for a moment and breathed, in and out, until her hands stopped quivering with sparks, and her eyes returned to normal.

 

 _Maybe my father is right. Maybe I am becoming a monster,_ she thought.

And a slow smile spread across her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me - Rachel no  
> Rachel - RACHEL YES


	15. For every choice, there is an echo...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brigid Tenenbaum and Dr Suchong both put their plans into effect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack -  
> The Boogie Man - Todd Rollins and his Orchestra

**Rapture** - _1960_

Brigid Tenenbaum smiled tightly and took off her glasses, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She’d done it. The Little Sister Antidote plasmid was finally ready. She calmed her nerves by methodically preparing the plasmid for injection, readying a few small dosages of EVE to ensure herself enough to heal all the girls, and then making a clean sweep of the entirety of her secret little lab to make sure she hadn't left anything important behind. She felt better once all the equipment was neatly lined up and all the glass beakers were scrubbed clean and shining.

She looked around the room one last time and smiled. Like the place had never been used at all. If it was ever found (which she doubted), they would never be able to discover what had been made here. Not that it would matter for very much longer - the time had come to leave Rapture. If the Duncans and the rest of the DYAD were reckless enough to stay, they would eventually go down with the ship, as it were.

She stood against the far wall, her ear pressed up against it, for a moment, then pressed a section of the wall that looked exactly the same as the wall around it. A door slid open and she stepped through into a storage room, and then through another door into her normal lab. No one was about. Brigid frowned. It seemed unusually quiet for this time of the day. She decided to check on the girls now, and let the twins know that they would be on the move very soon. She trusted them to be sensible and help her with the other girls.

As long as everything went according to the plan. She could stay calm as long as everything went according to plan. For a moment she stood still, fingers of her left hand being worried at by her right. Then she took a couple of deep breaths, squared her shoulders and headed to her office to give her friend on the black market a call. She stopped by the twins bedroom on the way.

Sarah looked miserable, and Helena even more so.

“What is wrong, my little sestras?” asked Brigid. She automatically checked the girls foreheads for their temperature but they seemed fine.

Sarah answered, “‘lena is scared.” She looked at Helena as if to get confirmation, and then corrected herself. “Not scared - she just knows that something is going to happen. Something bad.”

Brigid's stomach sank. She knelt down on one leg in front of Helena and took the girls hands in her own.

“My little angel, what do you feel? Can you tell me what it is you feel?”

Helena gazed at her with her golden eyes, then shut them, and spoke hesitantly.

“The bad man…” She shook her head. “And...lonely. I feel...lonely.” Her lips trembled as she opened her eyes. “Can you stop him, maty? Please?”

The bad man...that could only mean Suchong. Brigid felt cold. Was he finally making his move on the twins? Why hadn’t she been keeping closer tabs on him? _Млинець_ , she cursed to herself. She had been so focused on formulating the cure that she had hadn’t picked up on any rumblings around the labs. She needed to start moving the girls _now_.

She placed a hand on a shoulder of each of the twins.

“Listen to me, my дочки, we will need to start our plan, yes? You understand?”

They both nodded, faces solemn.

“Good. Good girls. I need you to let the other girls know that it’s time to start moving to the safe room. Best to go through the tunnels, less eyes that way.” Brigid curled her fingers around one eye, like a telescope, and smiled. Sarah and Helena smiled back at her, with worried eyes.

“Don’t worry, Maty,” Sarah said in a serious voice. “We’ll make sure all the sestras get there.”

Helena nodded furiously in agreement, holding tight to Sarah’s hand.

Brigid drew both of them for a brief, fierce hug, whispering _я тебе люблю_ in both their ears.

After she left, Sarah and Helena looked at each other, the golden glow intensifying as they spoke silently.

_It’ll be okay, ‘lena, Maty will make sure we’re okay._

Helena shrugged.

_Maybe. Maybe...we should go get Daddy._

Holding hands tightly, the girls headed to the common rooms to spread the word.

                                                  ⇌   ⇌   ⇌

Brigid Tenenbaum held the phone in her hand for a moment, collecting her thoughts, then pushed a series of numbers. When a woman’s voice with an Irish accent answered, she relaxed slightly.

“Кохана, are you busy?”

Down in Fontaine’s Fisheries, Siobhan smiled.

“Always time for you, love,” she answered with flirtatious cheer. “What do you need?”

Tenenbaum chose her words carefully.

“That order I put in - is it possible that I pick it up today? Say...in an hour?”

S raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t expected the plan to come to fruition so soon, but she was nothing if not resourceful.

“That shouldn’t be a problem. Possibly a slight delay but no more than an extra...half hour. Would that be acceptable?”

“Yes, that will be fine.” Tenenbaum sighed in relief, slightly less worried now that S was sharing the burden. She lowered her voice.

“I have missed you, Siobhan. I...look forward to all this being over, and we can spend some time together.”

S chuckled warmly.

“Me too, love, me too.” There was a series of clatters from behind her somewhere and men shouting. She rolled her eyes.

“I better shoot off, darlin’, there’s a lot going on and I need to get your order ready. Meet you at the spot in an hour or so, righto?”

“Meet you at the spot.” Tenenbaum echoed, smiling at the phone, even though S couldn’t see her. She hung up, and put her fingers to her mouth, almost chewing the skin around the nails, then caught herself and entwined her hands. They were on the clock now. Time to move. She took the bag that contained the antidote plasmid and EVE doses down to the twins room and stashed it in the vent, then headed off to fetch them.

S hung up on her end, a smile tugging at her mouth.. The smuggling game had been a good lark, but she was looking forward to getting back topside and feeling the sun on her face again. The sky truly was falling in Rapture - and when that sky was the only thing holding up an entire ocean, you best get out while you could. As for Brigid - well, she was an odd duck, to be sure, with a brilliant mind, an attractive face and guts of steel.  Although some of the things she had told S late at night hadn’t been pleasant, she had a good heart, ready to do right by those poor little girls. S had a house in England, ready and waiting. A fresh start for all of them.

She thought about Brigid’s eyes, and how they skittered around, avoiding direct eye contact most of the time. But when she looked at you, with a gaze as green and soft as grass, your heart couldn’t help but open up. S shook her head, smiling ruefully at herself. She had it bad, alright. And now, it was time to do some good.

 

                                                        ⇌   ⇌   ⇌

The twins had found several of the other Sisters in the common rooms and split up to whisper in everyone’s ears. They all knew to make it look like they were just heading out into the city to gather ADAM, like any other day. They all knew to meet up in the safe room. Those Sisters who were already out would soon know what was happening, thanks to the connection they all shared. Once the girls started heading out, Sarah and Helena climbed into the nearest vent and made their way to the area where their Big Daddy was stored. The other Daddies were free to roam Rapture, still performing routine maintenance and keeping the city from collapsing completely, when they weren't needed by their Little Sisters. The twins liked having their Daddy close, just in case, so Tenenbaum had arranged a room for him...almost like his own bedroom.

Not that he slept, of course. He just...existed, until the twins needed him again.

They swung down into the room, and pattered across the floor. It was chilly and quiet, and they could just see the huge shadow against the wall, the lights in the helmet barely glowing a soft amber.

“Daddy! Wake up!” called Sarah, while Helena held one of his great hands and patted it until he stirred.

The lights grew brighter and switched to green. The Daddy gave a low rumble, and Helena answered.

“Hello Mr Bubbles. Time to go now!”

Another rumble, then he stood up, towering over the two girls, who looked up at him adoringly. A terrible thought struck Helena, and a moment later, Sarah.

_He won’t be able to come with us…_

They looked at each other,  golden eyes brimming with tears.

Rachel moved through the hallways, looking for Sarah. She went to the twins bedroom and before she had time to even knock, the door opened.

“Rachel. I suppose you’re looking for the...for Sarah.”

“Dr Tenenbaum.” Rachel nodded politely. She rather liked the doctor, who treated Rachel with respect and a touch of affection. “Yes. Do you know where she is?”

“They’ll both be somewhere close.” Tenenbaum put a gentle hand on Rachel’s shoulder. “You should go and find them. I believe Sarah has something to tell you, сюрприз*.”

Rachel’s brow furrowed, then cleared as she mentally translated the word. She smiled and thanked Dr Tenenbaum before hurriedly heading off to the common room. Tenenbaum watched her go. She had thought it best to keep Rachel in the dark about the escape plan as long as possible, just in case. She was still a child, and even the most responsible of children make mistakes and say the wrong thing at the wrong time. At DYAD, the walls had ears, and eyes, and sometimes teeth.

                                       ⇌   ⇌   ⇌

Dr Suchong gave orders in a quiet, clipped voice. Susan Duncan stood at the back of the room, observing. Ethan had refused to have anything to do with the matter - in fact, he had washed his hands of both the Little Sister and Leda projects altogether and moved into another wing of the building a few days before, effectively leaving his job and his family. Nobody had bothered to inform Rachel of this, of course. All attention had been turned to obtaining Helena, and the possibilities contained within her.

The other men in the room were doctors. At least, they wore white coats and were trained in basic aid. Also in weapons handling, unarmed combat...Suchong had _prepared._

“Remember,” he stated authoritatively, “The girls can be - hurt -  but the ADAM will not - allow - them to be killed. Be - careful - but do _not_ be afraid to use - force. If anyone else gets in the way -however…” He shrugged. The men nodded, eyes emotionless and hands steady.

                                                                  ⇌   ⇌   ⇌

 

The twins had never taken their Big Daddy into Little Wonders before and they were excitedly showing him their favourite toys in the common room when Rachel found them. She was startled to see the great mechanical man looming there but she pushed down the usual resentment about anyone in Sarah’s life that wasn’t Rachel, and plastered a grin on her face, waving at him to make Sarah smile. She did.

“Rachel!” Sarah grabbed her hands and pulled her close, much to her delight. Putting her mouth close to Rachel’s ear, Sarah whispered, “We have something to tell you. We’re leaving Rapture!”

Rachel felt her face go white, and the tips of her fingers crystallise with ice.

“What do you mean, leaving?” she hissed back, her breath hanging in the air between them. “You can’t!” She jerked her hands away. “You can’t leave.” She stared down at her fingers, already turning blue.

Helena rolled her eyes and turned to show Daddy the doll she’d made of him with an old baseball and other bits and pieces. Insofar as the metal man showed any emotion, he seemed pleased.

Sarah’s mouth opened in horror. “Oh,” she said, “No, Rachel, I mean...you’re coming too. We’re all leaving. Maty is going to take us topside, to the surface. We’re going to see the sun!” she clapped her hands excitedly at the thought. “Unless…” her face dropped. “You don’t...want to? Do you want to stay here?”

Rachel felt a surge of relief, and her hands began to warm up again. Then she frowned for a moment. Leave DYAD? Leave her parents? Leave _Rapture_? She considered this for a moment.

“No.” she said firmly. “I don’t want to stay here. I want to go with you. Is...will there be room for me?”

Sarah hugged her and said “Of course! We’ve been planning this for a long time and I told Maty that you had to come!”

Helena blew a raspberry at the ceiling. She wasn’t thrilled about Rachel coming with them, but she felt compelled to remove Rachel from the vicinity of her awful mother and the bad man. Besides, it would make Sarah happy and that was the most important thing.

The three of them began to head out of the common room. Helena and the Big Daddy walked in front, Sarah and Rachel just behind, Sarah talking animatedly about how they were all going to live in a house in a place called England, all of them together like sisters! There would be sunshine and a real sky and cake every day!

“Sarah.” Rachel stopped and grabbed her arm. “I ...need to tell you something. Um. It’s something I...overheard. In the labs.”

Sarah paused and studied Rachel.

“What is it?” she asked. “ You feel - nervous.”

Rachel inwardly cursed the other girl's intuition. She’d managed to push her conversation with Dr Suchong almost completely out of her mind. If she thought about it too much, she started to feel guilty, and that was unpleasant. So, she didn’t think about it at all. Safer that way.

But everything had changed now, in an instant. They could all just...leave. Together. It was ridiculous to stay, anyway. The city was never going to return to it’s former glory and while Rachel had enjoyed her taste of power, it would be pointless trying to lord it over a bunch of fish, which would be all that was left of Rapture in another few years…but topside? She would be unique, a miracle of science, one of a kind.

She took a deep breath and -

A crash from the hallway startled both of them, Sarah pulling her hands away from Rachel's as she turned. They heard the Big Daddy roar, and Helena scream, and Sarah was already running towards the sounds.

“Oh no.” whispered Rachel. Her fists clenched at her sides, already sparking and zapping.

In the hallway, a group of men in white coats were surrounding the Big Daddy and Helena, who had climbed up onto his shoulders and was kicking anyone who got close enough.

“No, no, no, no!” she yelled. “Bad man! Get ‘im Mr B, unzip him, unzip him!” She swung the Big Daddy doll she was still holding around her head, then brought it down and smacked one of the men on the temple. He crumpled onto the floor, and Sarah paused to kick him in the stomach as she ran past, then clambered up to join her sister. Two of the men were already dead, ripped apart by the Big Daddy’s drill. They hadn’t counted on one of the metal protectors being involved - the things had never been allowed inside DYAD.

Walking back to her office, Brigid Tenenbaum heard the commotion and felt a wave of panic. She started to run.

Suchong stood back, well out of reach of the Big Daddy, a small frown on his face. Unpredictability. If only there was a way to wipe it out of existence. He heard Tenenbaum snap at him from behind.

“Just what are you doing, Suchong, you схиблений*?” She grabbed his arm roughly and turned him to face her. “Explain yourself!”

He laughed in her face. “What needs to be - done. You got soft, Doctor. Playing mother to -these-  girls, when they are nothing -more- than property and data. Walking laboratories. “

Brigid narrowed her eyes.

“I used to think like you, Suchong. Now I feel dirty even being in the same room. What we have done - what I have done - to these girls is wrong. Stolen their humanity, their childhoods...it is ганебний.*”

Suchong smirked...and then his face froze as he felt the barrel of a gun dig into the underside of his chin.

“I don’t really want to add murder to my list of sins,” said Brigid quietly. “But if it saves my little sestras…” She shrugged with one shoulder. “нехай буде так.*”

Behind them, a man swung from the Big Daddy’s giant metal hand, gurgling, while another body had joined the ones already on the floor. Rachel watched from behind the doorframe. She had been ready to zap Dr Suchong, just enough to knock him out, but then Dr Tenenbaum had arrived. Now she was taking quick shots at the other men, enough to keep them from grabbing Sarah and Helena, but she felt like she was going to run dry. She’d never used so much plasmid power in one session before, and it had been awhile since her EVE levels were at their peak. She gave her hands a brisk shake, then yelped as she was grabbed from behind.

Reinforcements had arrived.

They were prepared now. Men armed with electrified batons circled the Big Daddy. He turned one way, then the other, then went rigid as three of the men touched their batons to his torso. The deep whale-like bellow made Brigid’s head turn, and Suchong slapped the gun away from his face, shoved her into the wall, and made a run for it, leaving his operatives to finish the job without him. Brigid steadied herself and took a shot at his fleeing back, but missed as he rounded a corner.

“Put the gun away, Ma’am.” said a voice in her ear. Glancing sideways, she saw the Big Daddy drop down to one knee as he weakened under the continued electrical current. She couldn’t even see the twins in the mass of white coats. She heard the whine of the baton charging up just behind her.

She slowly put the gun away, and her arms were grasped and held behind her back. Through her tears, she saw the white coats form into two groups, and there were her little sestras, holding onto each other for dear life. Helena was still kicking and biting anything close enough, while Sarah screamed for their Daddy.

But he lay on the floor, a pile of metal and dimming lights, an occasional moan drifting out as the electricity sparked on his metal carcass. The big hand reached towards the girls still. The drill was motionless.

Sarah and Helena’s hands were white with the effort of holding on. Slowly, slowly, they were being torn apart. Both them were just screaming now, no words.

Finally, the men got Helena's arms free, and immediately yanked them behind her back and cuffed her. Before they managed to gag her, she had bitten one man's finger to the bone.

Brigid pulled ineffectively against the men that held her.

“немає” she cried, “немає! No!”

Sarah’s screams were completely hysterical now as she struggled in the grasp of the white coats, barely able to see her sister being dragged away through the tears.

All the two of them could hear was

_‘lena‘lena’lena’lena’lena_

_sarahsarahsarahsarahsarah_

echoing through their minds

Then it was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *damn  
> *daughters  
> *I love you  
> *sweetheart  
> *a surprise  
> *lunatic  
> *shameful  
> *so be it  
> *dearest
> 
>  
> 
> Everything is terrible and I'm sorry :(
> 
> (This chapter got way out of hand, so I decided to split it into two parts.)


	16. ...with each act, we change the world.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The escape continues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack -  
> -You Always Hurt the One You Love by The Mills Brothers
> 
> This chapter carries on directly from the previous one. Everything is still terrible and I'm sorry.

_Escape from Rapture_ \- **1960**

 

Then it was over.

 

Helena had been carried off like some prize animal and locked away.

Sarah was sobbing on the floor, holding the hand of her Big Daddy who lay like a broken doll, and Brigid knelt beside her, trying her best to stop crying. One of the men who had restrained her had whispered into her ear that Suchong had said she wouldn’t last the night. She didn’t know if he was warning her or threatening her. Did it matter?  
If they stayed, she would be killed and all the Little Sisters would be lost.  
If they left, Helena would be alone down here, and Sarah might never forgive her.

Brigid was overwhelmed with guilt and anger, but she did her best to push it away.

“Sarah, come, we have to go, найдорожчий.* Come now.” she picked up the girl, holding her with one arm while she picked something up off the floor with the other. “Here.” She handed the doll to Sarah, the baseball head slightly dented now. Sarah sniffled, lips trembling as she gazed down at her fallen protector.

“Will...will he get better?” she asked, her voice cracked and hoarse.

Brigid considered. “I think he will, but it may take a while. We can’t do anything for him right now. We have to get out of here before they come back and hurt him again, yes?”

Sarah nodded. Her face screwed up again. “It hurts, Maty, and ‘lena is so scared. She doesn’t know where she is!” She began to cry again. “We’ve never been away from each other. I don’t know what to do! She’s scared!”

Brigid stroked the girl's hair soothingly as she started to move.

 _That monster_ she thought, still furious, _if it wasn’t for Helena, I’d slit his throat and burn this place to the ground. He thought mothering these girls made me soft._ She spat, and cursed his name under her breath.

They reached the girls bedroom, Sarah still cradled in her arms. Her eyes were glowing intensely, and Brigid guessed she and Helena were still communicating. Placing her gently down on the bed, Brigid opened the vent behind the posters.

“Come now, Sarah, we have to get to the safe room and see if everyone else had made it. Then, we’ll decide what to do.”

The girl nodded and climbed up into the hole. Brigid joined her, taking the supplies she’d stashed earlier and shoving them in her pockets.

They started crawling along the tunnel, Sarah still sniffling but otherwise silent, and eventually they came out in the basement of Olympus Heights, the apartment building where Brigid had built her safe room over the past months.

Most of the other sisters were already there, idly playing with whatever toys they’d brought with them. All of them were happy to see mama Tenenbaum, but their smiles faded when they saw Sarah. Sarah, alone, was a sight so strange that a few of the girls started to cry, instinctively knowing something horrible had occurred.

A larger figure moved out of the darkness.

“Are you alright, love?” Mrs S asked. “You seem to be a bit light on girls there.”

Brigid breathed a deep sigh of relief and walked forward into S’s arms, allowing herself a moment of comfort.

“It was Suchong.” she murmured. “He blindsided me, took Helena away...they’ll kill me if they catch me.” Anger and grief bubbled back up her throat. “It was my fault. I should have paid more attention to what they were up to, I should have known he’d pull something like this.” She pulled away from Mrs S, and clasped her hands together, fingers restless. Suddenly, Sarah tugged at her arm.

“Maty, maty,” she whispered insistently, “Can your friend help us get Helena back?”

Brigid and Mrs S looked at each other, then S knelt down to look Sarah in the face.

‘Hello there, chicken. We’ll do everything we can to help your sister, alright? And you can call me Mrs S, if you like.” She gave Sarah’s shoulder a brief squeeze, then stood back up. She guided Brigid away from the girls and lowered her voice.

“What do you think is our best course here, love? I’ve got my shotgun with me, if that helps.”

Brigid shook her head. “It looks like Suchong has his own personal little army to protect him,” she replied, keeping an eye on Sarah, who had sat down on the floor, eyes glowing. “And I’m sure that security has been tightened even further now. _Млинець!_ If only I’d moved sooner…” She rubbed her forehead anxiously.

Mrs S gently took her hands and rubbed her thumbs back and forth over the other woman's palms.

“Shush now. You can’t keep on blaming yourself. What’s done is done, now we just have to go forward. Alright, darlin’?”

Brigid sighed and nodded. “You’re right, Siobhan.” A thought occurred to her and she crouched down next to Sarah.

“Sweetheart, what happened to little Rachel? She was looking for you just before…” she gestured vaguely.

Sarah blinked, slowly, and came back to reality. Her eyes grew wider.

“Oh! Rachel was there! We were talking, I was telling her about the house and the sky, then I heard ‘lena scream, and, and...I don’t know what happened to her.” She concentrated for a moment. “I can sort of...she feels...angry. But...she’s not hurt or anything. Just really, _really_ mad.”

Brigid nodded, thinking. Rachel wouldn’t be in any immediate danger - she was too valuable to DYAD and, well, she was the Duncan's daughter...although that didn’t seem to do the girl any favours. And that meant there was someone in DYAD who was on Helena’s side. Brigid had no illusions about Rachel loving Helena like a sister, but she knew the girl would do just about anything for Sarah. It was better than nothing. She heard Siobhan talking in the next room, her voice sharp, then the bang of a receiver being hung up impatiently. Then another number being dialed.

Brigid felt the old familiar feeling of deep seated panic, rising up from her gut.  What else could go wrong? Would they ever make it out of here? She moved away from the girls and dug in her pockets for her cigarettes, needing _something_ to occupy her hands.

S came back in, smiling grimly. Brigid searched the blue eyes for some good news.

“Well.” she clapped her hands together. “So, we can’t get out in one of the mini-subs as planned. Ryan’s sent a splicer squad down to the Fisheries to crack down on the smugglers. And it seems they’re on the look-out for me now as well.” She lowered her voice. “My friend says that the splicers are also under orders to catch and harvest every Little Sister they see. You’ve made enemies, love.”

“But -” she paused and winked at Brigid, “it just so happens I’ve got us something better than a sub. And it’s ready to go whenever you are, love. But we all of us need to get out.”

 

Brigid sagged in relief. Then they both looked over at Sarah.

“How can I take her away from her sister?” Brigid whispered.

“At this point, Helena is the only one they want alive.” S stated baldly. “If we stay, they’ll find us, and kill us. Then she really will be lost.”

Brigid bit her lip, then steeled herself, grabbing her bag with the antidote. She went into the kitchen area and prepared the injection. She stared at the syringe. Even though she knew the effects would wear off - she’d managed to make the plasmid temporary; it would be flushed out of her system within a week without any EVE top ups - she was still nervous after seeing what splicing had done to so many others.

 

“Боже , допоможи мені…”* she muttered, and injected herself with the iridescent liquid. She gritted her teeth as the pain ran through her body, but managed to stay quiet. The last thing she wanted was to upset the girls anymore. Holding up her hands, she watched the veins glow through the skin, a golden network that slowly returned to normal before her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Brigid went back to the group of girls. She nodded at S, glanced at Sarah, then asked the rest of the girls to line up for her.

Justyna was first, her solemn face under long brown braids looking at her trustingly. Brigid flicked her wrist and placed her palm on the side of the girls head, fingers outstretched. Her hand glowed brightly as the plasmid activated, and the glow spread from her hand to the girls head, then Justyna's entire body shone golden, the light almost blinding. The other girls chorused “oooo” at the sight.

Then it was done. Justyna stood before her, a perfectly normal little girl again. Every vestige of gold was gone from her eyes, and her complexion was healthy. She clapped her hands.

“Thank you, mama Tenenbaum!” the girl said. She went and sat with Sarah, whose golden eyes glowed fiercely as she continued to mentally reassure Helena.

Brigid worked her way through the line of girls. Beth was last, and when the glow died down, Brigid asked her to help ready the others to move.

“Of course, mama.” Beth answered, and gave each girl a task - collecting Pep Bars, making sure everyone had a warm sweater, deciding which toys to take.

Brigid knelt down before Sarah, gently touching her on the shoulder.

“Найдорожчий Sarah, it is time now. I’m sorry but we have to go. There are very bad men looking for all of us.” Sarah opened her mouth to protest but Brigid squeezed her hands and spoke rapidly. “But I promise you, we will come back for your sestra. We will, I swear.”

Sarah squirmed as Brigid placed her hand upon the girl's head and the glow spread. The other girls watched silently, as if holding their collective breaths. Sarah sat up as the glow died away and clutched her head.

“‘lena?” she said. “‘lena, ‘LENA. Maty, I can’t hear her anymore! I can’t…” She began hitting her hands against her temples, as if trying to fix a broken radio. “Where has she gone? Maty, why can’t I hear her?”

Brigid blinked back tears and grabbed the girl's hands before she could injure herself.

“I’m so sorry, my little angel, I’m so sorry.” She held Sarah in her arms and murmured to her. “Helena will be okay, I promise. We will come back and get her very soon. But we have to go now.” She looked imploringly at S, who nodded sharply.

“Come now, girls,” her Irish accent rang out. “Time to get a wriggle on!”

Brigid lifted Sarah to her feet, then poked around on the big desk in the corner, pulling out an accu-vox.

“Here, we’ll leave her a message, alright? She might make it here before we come back, don’t you think?”

Sarah nodded, her face a study in misery. She was still holding tightly to the doll that Helena had made, and now she carefully placed it next to the accu-vox, so it would be ready and waiting for her.

They recorded the message, Brigid going first, then Sarah, who broke down and started crying uncontrollably again. But Brigid couldn’t coddle her anymore, not with time so tight, so she swept the girl up and carried her down the stairs into the tunnels underneath Rapture.

S led the way, with a line of girls behind her, and Brigid brought up the rear. The short journey was uneventful, if damp, and they came out in a hidden corner near one of the bathysphere stations. She frowned.

“But all the bathyspheres have been locked down, or destroyed!” she protested.

S raised her eyebrows. “Have they now?” she said, half smirking. She looked around, then gingerly reached her hand inside the nearest rubbish bin, feeling underneath the lid. Then she grinned and pulled out a plastic card, waving it in front of Brigid's face. “As it happens, we’re taking the very last bathysphere out of Rapture. I still have _some_ friends.”

“Oh, Siobhan, I could kiss you.” Brigid exclaimed in relief, smiling over Sarah's head at her.

S winked at her. “Save that for when we have time to enjoy it, love.” She walked out onto the docking area and opened the door of the bathysphere, then waved them all over.

 

A scream pierced the air, and they all froze for a moment. Then, as the splicer appeared, S herded the girls into the bathysphere, and pulled her shotgun free from her backpack. The splicer let out another scream, apparently so far gone that they’d lost the ability to speak, and let a stream of fire loose from it’s hands. The last girl into the pod, Veera, caught the tail end of it in the face and screamed shrilly. S cursed and fired, emptying both barrels at the splicer at close range, stopping it in its tracks. “Bloody hellfire.” She carefully took the girls face in her hand and turned it. “There, love, only a little burn. Your mama will put something on it for you.” She shrugged at Brigid, who placed Sarah carefully on one of the velvet seats in the bathysphere and smoothed her hair. The girl was quiet, exhausted, and not coping very well at all with being cut off entirely from her twin. She lay there, eyes darting around until she realised where she was, then staring at nothing, until she closed her eyes and rolled over.

 

Brigid pulled out a first-aid kit from under the seats, and found some cream to smooth on Veeras cheek. ADAM had provided some excellent medical advantages, before plasmids became the big money spinner. The regenerative qualities meant Veera wouldn’t even have a scar.  
“There, “ she said soothingly, “How does that feel now?”

Veera pressed her lips together, then whispered, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.” She patted Brigid on the arm in a comforting way, as if trying to reassure her. Brigid’s heart hurt with the love she felt for these girls and she had to swallow down her tears.

 

She smiled brightly at all the little faces in front of her, and said “Let’s go, then! You’ll all be seeing the sun soon.”

 

S unlocked the lever with the card, and pulled it down with a clonk.

The bathysphere glided down the tracks and out into the ocean. The girls crowded around the windows to see Rapture for the last time, the neon lights and brightly lit windows glowing through the water. As it drew further away, the city looked like a magical fairy kingdom, all lights and bubbles.

Brigid and S sat with their arms around each other, next to Sarah who was now curled up and asleep, in a state of complete exhaustion. She didn’t wake up when the bathysphere finished its journey, or when she was carried up the stairs inside the lighthouse by S.

 

They all stood on the flagstones outside the lighthouse doors, the girls staring at the sky in astonishment. A few of them were overwhelmed by the expanse and began to cry with excitement and exhaustion. Sarah stirred and her eyes opened. As she took in the view above her, her mouth fell open. It was early morning and the sky was streaked with clouds, tinted rosy gold by the sun. Some gulls flew over, squawking loudly.

S put her down gently and Sarah grabbed her hand, turning her head around to see the sun, squinting as she did.

Brigid heard her whisper, “‘lena, look…”, then fall silent again.

 

Mrs S said quietly, “I’ve organised for a lift. They should be here soon.”

Brigid nodded and put her arm around Sarah. The girl stiffened briefly, then sagged against her.

 

They all sat in the morning sunlight and waited to go home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *dearest  
> *god help me
> 
> *A note about ‘harvesting’ the Little Sisters. This is basically removing the sea slug implanted in the girls. It doesn’t kill them straight away but is described as like taking them off life support. It is also incredibly painful for the girls :(  
> As to how exactly the Antidote plasmid works...I’m just gonna handwave it and say it essentially disintegrates the sea slug and kind of...sucks all the ADAM out of the body. Or something. (Someone tell me if it was specifically explained in the games, cause I don’t remember!)


	17. The only difference between past and present, is semantics.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarah makes a friend in Rapture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack -  
>  \- Lil Darling by Count Basie Orchestra

**Sarah** \- _Rapture_ \- 1966

 

Sarah hauled herself up into the vent. Everything was so familiar and so strange at the same time. The tunnels were slightly rusty, and a lot smaller, but at least she could avoid the splicers. No wonder Helena had preferred to see them as angels - the few she had seen had _ still  _ been in their fancy clothes, now tattered and bloodstained, the filthy masks hiding their faces. They  _ stank,  _ too. Sarah paused and tried to get her bearings. Getting around the tunnels used to be second nature - like a glowing map in her mind - but now she was just trying to head in the right direction and hoping to come out where she was supposed to be.

 

She rounded a corner and stopped short, gasping  _ bloody hell  _ as a pair of glowing eyes appeared before her. The Little Sister squealed and started to back up, babbling _ no no no no no no.  _ Sarah rested both her arms on her elbows, raising her palms in the gesture of peace.

“Hey...hey...it’s okay…” she said soothingly, surprised that she sounded so calm.

The girl slowed down, then halted, and peered at Sarah through a fringe of dark hair. In the dim light she could see that the girl's face was grubby and her hair unkempt. 

“I wish I had some jellies!” she exclaimed suddenly, looking at Sarah expectedly.

“Umm...let’s see what I’ve got here…” Sarah rummaged through her backpack and pulled out some muesli bars, then a small packet of biscuits. “How about some chocolate biscuits, hey?”

The Little Sister grinned and started crawling back towards Sarah. When she reached her, she reached out a small hand and touched Sarah’s hair, dark and frizzing up in the dampness. 

“Your hair is a different colour today.” she stated, taking a biscuit from Sarah’s suddenly unresisting fingers.

“My hair?” Sarah echoed. Her heart  **thumped** in her chest, so hard she felt out of breath for a moment. “What colour is it usually?” 

The girl giggled. 

“Six times two is lemon!”

_ Lemon? Yellow...blonde...the kid had to mean blonde, right? She must mean Helena...god, she sounds just like her... _

Sarah handed the girl another biscuit, and kept her voice as casual as she could.

“Oh, the lemon-haired girl isn’t me. She’s my sister. Do...you know where she is?”

The Little Sister gaped at Sarah, and then asked in an hushed voice, 

“Big Sisters have sisters?”

“Yeah,” Sarah answered, “They do. Do you know where she is?”

“She’s everywhere! She looks after us when our Daddies go away! She sends us angels full of ADAM!”

Sarah smiled, then furiously rubbed the tears from her eyes. 

“Yeah, that sounds like Helena.” she said in a barely cracking voice.

“He - lee - na.” The girl repeated slowly. “Helena. Then what’s  _ your _ name?”

“My name is Sarah, “ she answered. 

The girl echoed again with “Sar - rah? Sarah! Big Sister’s sister!” She giggled, evidently finding the entire idea marvelous.

Sarah reached out to the girl, brushing the hair off her face. “What about you, what’s your name?” There was something strangely familiar about the girl, but she assumed it was simply down to the way the Little Sisters had always resembled each other - matching pinafore dresses, same hairstyles, same golden eyes...

The girl hesitated. 

“Um...the silver lady calls us Leda. But Big Sister said my name could be anything I wanted! Today my name is Violet because they’re pretty flowers!”

“That is a very pretty name.” said Sarah, smiling at the girl.  _ God, were we this young? _ she thought,  _ she’s _ so  _ young _ …”Wait...who’s the silver lady?”

Violet looked down, then crawled closer to Sarah and put her mouth close to her ear.

“She’s the mother. But not really. She’s mean but it’s because she’s sad. That’s what Big Sister says.” She looked over her shoulder as if this silver lady could be creeping up behind her, and whispered “I’m scared of her.”

“Well,” Sarah whispered back, “Do you wanna come with me and we’ll find our Big Sister together? And I’ll make sure the silver lady doesn’t find _you,_ okay? She gave the girl a crooked grin, while her mind whirred. 

She’d never imagined there would still be Little Sisters down here. DYAD kept the program going? Did they go and steal a whole new crop of little girls? What the hell had they been doing down here all this time? Did that mean the Duncans were still around? And Rachel...what the hell had happened to Rachel?

“Sar-rah?” Violet tugged at her sleeve. “Do you have a Daddy?”

Sarah hesitated. “Uh, no. I used to. When I was a little girl like you…” A picture of Mister Bubbles lying on the ground, helpless, welled up in her mind, and she felt a sudden surge of sadness. “But...uh...I went away and he had to stay here.” She smiled wistfully. “I missed him a lot.” And she had. Despite being washed clean of the ADAM and whatever else had been involved in the pair-bonding, she had genuinely grieved for her Big Daddy. In the years after leaving Rapture, she’d held a secret hope that he had recovered and somehow reunited with Helena. At least she would have had someone to wait with…

 

Violet’s face held a sad expression as she crawled even closer and whispered to Sarah.

“My Daddy fell down and wouldn’t get back up again. When the spliceheads caught us. Then Big Sister,” she paused and corrected herself, “He-len-a, came and got me and made the bad people into sweet angels!” Another pause. “She couldn’t make Mister B better though...” The girls voice trailed off, and Sarah took one of her hands and squeezed it.

“Hey,” she ducked her head so she could look the girl in the eyes. “I know it hurts, yeah? But I have some good news. When we find Helena, I’m gonna take you all back up to the surface.” The words she’d spoken to Rachel all those years ago came back to her. “You’ll get to see the sunshine and live with all your sisters and...and have cake every day!” She smiled at the little girl, whose eyes had opened wide and shone brightly in the gloom.

“Oh, I like cake!” exclaimed Violet happily, the sadness in her voice washed away.

Sarah leaned close, fixing a grin on her face and said brightly, “Me too! Now, let’s get going, okay?” She felt her legs itching to move, to run until she found her sister again. Helena was somewhere near and getting closer, and she was filled with a jittery excitement at the thought of being reunited with her.

 

Violet pointed and said “This way!” She turned around and started crawling back the way she had came. 

Sarah slung the backpack over her shoulders and followed her deeper into Rapture.


	18. There’s a world of difference between what we see and what IS.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helena gets a funny feeling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack -  
> -String Quartet #2 in F major (Kabardinian) by Sergei Prokofiev

**Helena** \- Rapture - **1966**

 

Gunfire rang out in Apollo Square, and Helena sighed, watching the splicers take shots at each other from her perch high on the wall. There were still pockets of peace in Rapture but his was most certainly not one of them. Small fires burned in corners and inside stores, automatic gun turrets blasted anything that moved, and a crudely built gallows stood in the middle of the square. There was a lot of blood. It was everywhere.

 

Walls around the square were still covered with old photos of missing persons and messages to disappeared loved ones. Helena had read every single letter, looked at every single photo, hundreds of them, years old. This place had claimed so many lives, destroyed so many families, turned friends and lovers against each other. She wished she could save them, all of them. She wished Sarah would come and save _her._

 

Helena closed her eyes and allowed herself a moment to think about Sarah's face again. The way she scrunched her nose up, the crooked little grin she wore when she was being naughty, the eyes identical to her own.

No, wait. They weren’t identical anymore. She sighed again and opened her eyes, dragging her gaze along the edges of the square. There were still the splicers to deal with. She hadn’t seen any of the Sisters down here today. She hoped they were learning to stay away from the more violent areas...but they still needed ADAM, and for that they needed ‘angels’, and for _that…_

She stood up, stepped forward, and dropped down onto the tiled floor thirty feet below. Her feet barely touched the ground before she leapt again and spun over the heads of the splicers, thrusting out a hand and sending two of them flying through the air towards the far wall. Landing gracefully, Helena tilted her head as the remaining splicers scrabbled to get away. She darted forward, impaling one on her syringe. It’s body slipped to the ground once the ADAM had been harvested, then, as fast as lightning, she jabbed the other two; their bodies slumped to the floor as well

Then she turned to the remaining duo. One was trying to pick herself up after hitting the wall at speed, snarling through a face that was mostly scars. Helena felt sorry for her, like a rabid animal that had to be put down. She did it quickly.

 

Turning to take care of the last splicer, she faltered as the invisible golden cord that connected her to the Little Sisters tugged at her - like a fizzing in her blood, and all the sounds surrounding her; the babbling of the splicer, the distant _rat-tat-tat_ of a gun turret, the crackling of the random fires, the constant trickle of the leaking ocean; all these sounds became muffled like she had plunged into water.

Just on the edge of hearing, a voice said “my name is Sarah.”

 

Helenas heart gave a great **thump** in her chest and her breath came out in a gasping sob as sound came rushing back in, the world spun around her, and the splicer screamed and stabbed a rusty bar into her abdomen.

She blinked, looked down at the piece of metal sticking out of her, looked back up at the splicer, and grabbed him by the throat. Lifting him in the air effortlessly, she slid her syringe into the corresponding spot on _his_ abdomen, drew out the ADAM, flicked her wrist and snapped his neck. The corpse dropped like a sack of potatoes. Helena had never had a sack of potatoes to drop but she was sure it made the same kind of thud. A memory of Maty making her and Sarah little roast potatoes, split open and stuffed with onions, dill and cream popped into her mind and the taste suddenly filled her mouth. Through her mind ran a litany of _sarahsarahsarahsarah_ as she carefully grasped the iron bar and pulled it out of her body. The wound had started to close up by the time the bar hit the floor, splattering her blood over the tiles. The level of ADAM in Helena's system gave her regenerative powers faster than even the Sisters; she had been wounded more times than she could remember, but even scars vanished within hours.

 

Helena waited a moment, methodically stretching and probing the spot that had been impaled. No pain. Good. She looked up at the ceiling, but decided to go through the vent instead. She needed to be somewhere quiet and safe for a moment.

In the dim enclosed space, she curled up, wrapping her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees. Her eyes glowed steadily golden. Could it be that Sarah was finally here? Really here? She came back?

What if she’d imagined it, or the ADAM was affecting her brain, or...she shook her head firmly. She took a deep breath and concentrated, feeling her way along the network of gold until she reached a Little Sister who was not alone, who was guiding someone. She probed a little further until - _she crawled along the tunnel leading the dark-haired big sisters sister_ \- a laugh bubbled out of Helena's mouth. She couldn’t remember the last time she laughed.

 

Sarah was here, Sarah had _come back_ for her, and Helena wouldn’t be _alone_ anymore and she could go _home_ and see maty again and _Sarah_ was here, _Sarah was here._ She was laughing and tears were streaming down her face and she sat in the tunnel, laughing and crying and hearing Sarah's voice in her head - _my name is Sarah my name is Sarah my name is Sarah_

Helena wiped her face on her sleeves, and smiled.

The smile dimmed as she looked at her hands. Would they still fit in Sarah’s like they used to? Rachel had called her a monster...what if that was all Sarah saw? She had changed so much...what if Sarah was _scared_ of her?

 

She shook her head, trying to dislodge her thoughts, and probed along the golden cord again to get a fix on her sister's location, and frowned. The Little Sister was helping Sarah, yes, but she wasn’t leading her to the safe room, unless it was by a very convoluted path. She concentrated hard on the girl. It was - Violet, as she called herself now, yes, Helena had met her, saved her from some splicers when her Big Daddy had fallen. The girls were usually so easy to read as to be transparent, but there was a door here, firmly closed.

It was silver, and made a sound like the buzzing and zapping of electricity.

 

Golden eyes snapped open and Helena, frozen for one impossibly long moment, started to scramble along the tunnel in panicky movements, until the overwhelming _need_ to get to her sister over-rode her usual reluctance to teleportation, and she vanished in a swirl of purple-black light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it looks like the True Triumverate will soon be together again!
> 
> da da DUMMMMM
> 
> so uh, thanks to everyone and anyone who's still with me! I hope you're having a Good Time!


	19. To be self-aware is a curse.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel Duncan is not a happy camper...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack -  
> -Cello Concerto #1 by Dmitri Shostakovich  
> (I rec. the Han-Na Chang live version, because she is incredible!)

**DYAD** \- 1960

 

Rachel Duncan was angry. Rachel Duncan was _furious._ She had been locked in her room for hours. A real, old-fashioned lock on the door had stymied her attempt to jolt the door open. She would’ve burnt her way through but the door turned out to be metal underneath the wood panels. Just another cage. How long had there been a lock on the _outside_ of the door? _How dare they_?

She sat on the edge of the bed, stiffly, her hands tense in her lap. Occasionally they smoothed her dress down, over her ribs and down her thighs, as if attempting to soothe a restless animal. She looked up at the camera in the corner and glared until her eyes burned. How long were they going to keep her in here. What had happened to Sarah?

 

There was a **click** from the door. Rachel stood up, clasping her hands behind her back. Her monitor appeared and she inwardly seethed. He had laid hands on her, dragged her away from Sarah, thrown her in here like some kind of _animal_. Her fingers tingled with the desire to strike him down. But she didn’t. Not yet. She could wait.

 

“Your mother wants to see you.” he stated, a trace of a smirk on his narrow face. He was clearly overjoyed at the prospect of this troublesome girl getting her comeuppance. Rachel clenched a fist full of flame behind her back and settled for shooting him a look of contempt.

She walked out into the corridor, shoulders back and chin raised, her shiny buckled shoes clicking on the tiled floor, her eyes moving over the various doors and windows they passed. But it seemed the DYAD was in lockdown - the rows of offices and labs were dark and quiet. Rachel wasn’t really worried about Sarah in a physical sense. She was well aware of the regenerative qualities of ADAM and how it made the Little Sisters essentially unkillable. _Did it do the same for me_ she wondered.

 

No, Sarah wasn’t dead. But even the Big Daddy wouldn’t have been able to fight off all of DYAD. They would have stopped them all, surely, Dr Tenenbaum and the other Little Sisters...and Helena. Oh, the entire staff would be delighted at the chance to observe Helena. She was so _special._ Rachel’s face darkened as she reached her mother’s office and knocked on the door. But at least she would see Sarah soon, and they could spend all their time together now.

 

“Come in,” called her mother, and Rachel opened the door, expecting to see Dr Suchong waiting with an angry expression. She was sure he had seen her, trying to help Sarah instead of distracting her. But it was just Susan Duncan in the room, sitting at her desk with a weary, yet somehow exuberant look on her face.

“Rachel. Sit down.” Her voice was a touch less chilly than usual. “You’ll be pleased to know that we have secured Helena for further study. I suspect she will prove...invaluable, for the future of DYAD.”

Rachel lifted an eyebrow.

“What future is that, exactly?” she asked, her voice as icy as her mother's. “Rapture is falling to pieces while you all sit inside these glass walls and _study.”_ She felt the familiar tremor of power deep within her, eager for release.“ What is the _point_?”

 

“I am not answerable to you, Rachel.” her mother snapped. “You are still a child, and will do as you’re told. Now that your little...distractions...have been removed, we can continue-”

 

Rachel felt an icy prickle moving up her spine.

“Removed?” she repeated blankly.

Susan smiled with a grim satisfaction.

“As I said, we have secured Helena for study. And the other one is...gone. They’re all gone. Dr Tenenbaum stole them all from underneath our noses.” She flapped her hand in a dismissive gesture. Susan had never been completely on board with the Little Sister program - it was a necessity, yes. But the girls themselves disgusted her, and she was quietly pleased that her daughter would no longer be associating with them.

 

Rachel stared at her mother disbelievingly, noting the cold blue eyes contained victory and defiance. Her fists clenched in the folds of her skirt and then she cocked her head to one side.

“Where is father?” she asked suddenly. “I haven’t seen him for days.”

Susan’s gaze faltered slightly, and her hands found some papers to straighten.

“Your father has...he is taking a break from work. He is temporarily staying...elsewhere. I’m sure you’ll see him soon.” Her smile was brittle. Rachel nodded. Her father had been so emotionally absent for so long now, she could hardly see this making a difference. Still...he could have come and talked to her, said goodbye in person.

 

Rachel stood up abruptly.

“I want to see Sarah.” Her voice was flat. She simply could not accept that Sarah had left. Had just - left. Deep down she knew she would never leave Helena behind. Surely, she wouldn’t…?

 

Susan gave her a pitying look.

‘Rachel, dear, she is gone. She has betrayed her sister, and Dr Tenenbaum has betrayed us all.” She shook her head. “Regardless, we have very exciting plans-”

 

“No.” Rachel's voice was still flat, but louder. “I don’t believe you. She would not leave her sister.” Her chin raised defiantly. “Or me.” _You’ve taken her away from me_ she thought bitterly. _She_ **_wouldn’t_ **...

 

Susan laughed, a surprising tinkling sound.

“Oh, my, you always gave those guttersnipes too much credit. You can go and look wherever you like, but you won’t find her. They. Are. Gone. And it’s time you had more suitable companions anyway.”

 

Rachel stood still, nearly vibrating with rage. In her mind she screamed and screamed at her mother until fire roared out of her throat, in her mind she _roared_. She could feel her fingers starting to spark and clenched her fists even harder. Her knuckles were white. She had to get out of here and see for herself. Her mother could wait.

 

The door slammed against the wall as she left, rebounding almost shut again. Her monitor straightened up from where he had been slouching against the wall and prepared to follow her.  Rachel glared and raised a hand, preparing to freeze him where he stood, but Susan called out his name, and he quickly moved into the office and closed the door firmly. Rachel let a small smile steal over her face. He could wait, too.

 

She started walking purposefully towards the doors through to Little Wonders, and a feeling, a terrible gut-wrenching feeling, began to grow in her. She began to run, no longer caring if anyone saw her, panting and red. _It couldn’t be true...could it?_

 

As she ran towards the entrance, her hands lifted and violent gusts of icy wind blew the doors open, ice forming around the edges and freezing them ajar. Down the hallway, into the twins bedroom.

Empty.

Into the common room.

Empty.

The dining hall, the schoolroom, the outer entrance.

All empty.

 

Rachel was cold. She had never felt so cold. If she cried, she felt that the tears would freeze on her cheeks. But she wasn’t going to cry. She would not cry. Her fingers were blue and her heart felt like a block of ice in her chest. In one last desperate idea, she ran to Dr Tenenbaums office and slammed the door open.

Empty.

Rachel had been in there a few times before, and now, looking around, she could see a few things were missing, small, personal things. All the equipment remained. They must have had to leave quickly and not carry much.

 

She sat down on the floor, like her legs had suddenly given out.

 

They were gone. Sarah was really gone. She had _left_ Rachel here - _abandoned_ her in this underwater prison. She felt the fire start to rise up her veins. Dr Tenenbaum had acted so _nice_ to her and then she had _stolen_ Rachel's only friend. Rachel _hated_ her. She hated _all_ of them.

She got to her feet and looked around wildly. Her skin felt hot and tight now, as her rage grew. She had to -

Rachel's hands twisted and opened and flames roared out, playing over the ceiling and walls of the office, the curtains catching alight, books burning on the shelves. She was silent, except for a hoarse panting. The heat blew her hair around her face in fine blond strands. If there’d been a mirror, she would have seen her silver eyes reflecting the fiery glow.

Eventually her breathing slowed down and the flames ebbed. The sprinkler system was sluggish - water was abundant here but pipes still got blocked - but finally started to send out a fine mist to douse the fires in the room. Rachel was still so hot, however, the water evaporated as it approached her skin. She felt exhausted suddenly, hollow. Her face was expressionless as she left the smouldering room and the door quietly clicked shut behind her.

 

                                                                                                               ⇌    ⇌    ⇌

 

Later that night, she snuck out of her room. They would have to replace the bolt on the door. When returning to her room, Rachel had simply looked at it for a moment, froze it solid with her plasmid, then smashed it with a wrench she’d picked up somewhere on the way. It felt solid and heavy in her hand, and she carried it with her as she slipped down the darkened hallways. Not that she _needed_ a weapon - she _was_ a weapon. But she liked the weight of it.

She made it down to the cage, the cell-like room that was kept for Suchong's more specialised experiments. Surprisingly, there were no guards keeping watch. Rachel entered the small observation room and stayed close to wall, keeping out of the camera's scope.

 

She could see a heap on the bed, which turned out to be just twisted up blankets. Then she caught her breath as two golden eyes suddenly opened in the darkness under the bed. Now she could see Helena, curled up on the floor. The misery was evident in every line of her body.

She seemed to stare at Rachel for a moment before the golden glow winked out again, and she rolled over to face the wall, barely visible.

 

Rachel felt a pang of something deep in her heart. She stared unblinkingly at the shadow where Helena was, and pushed the feeling, whatever it was, down, down, down. Under the ice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the wrench! ;)
> 
> My poor children :(


	20. There could be quite a market for a man you could not kill.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helena discovers new strengths, and deals with Dr Suchong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Discussion of medical procedures, needles~
> 
> soundtrack  
> -Violin sonata #1 Sergei Prokofiev

**Helena** \- _DYAD_ \- **_1962_ **

 

Helena sat, smiling and cross-legged, in the middle of the room. The two scientists watching her through the window looked worried.

“Why is she smiling?” said one in a nervous voice. None of them had seen her smile before. Her teeth looked sharper than was possible. Maybe it was just the way the fluorescent lights played on them. Her eyes glowed, steadily golden, boring right through the mirrored glass. Her head tilted to the side, as if listening to something, and her grin grew even wider.

The other doctor, the not-so-nervous one, checked her watch.

“It’s the subjects lunchtime.” She chuckled, in a humourless way. “The budget for her food alone has tripled in the last six months. She’s probably just happy about getting extra pudding.”

The first doctor, still looking at Helena, frowned. He didn’t think the subject was that easily pleased. His fingers tapped nervously on the sill, then pressed the intercom button.

“Helena?” She shifted her gaze to him, lazily, and he cleared his throat nervously before speaking again. “Helena, you seem happy today. Can you tell us why you’re happy?”

 

Helena unfolded her limbs and rose to her feet in a relaxed manner, and moved closer to the window. Both the doctors found themselves leaning back slightly as she approached. She had grown to nearly six feet tall now, slender, her hair a white-blond mass of curls falling down past her shoulders. She resembled nothing so much as the old illustrations of angels, although the comparison was lost on these two, creatures of godless Rapture that they were. Possibly it touched some primal gut feeling, the one that said - be afraid.

Her head tilted to the side as she touched her fingers to the glass.

“I’m happy because I’m going to see my sestra soon.” She smiled again as the words left her mouth, a small, certain smile that worried the man even more.

“She’s delusional,” muttered the white-coated woman, her pencil scratching rapidly in her notebook.

Helena giggled and shifted her golden gaze to her.

“немає ти божевільний!”*

The woman’s writing stopped and her eyes shot up to meet Helena’s.

“She can hear us without the intercom? How thick is that glass?”

The man knocked on the window.

“At least an inch and a half. The room’s completely soundproofed. But...I mean...she can _see_ us, even though it’s mirrored on her side. Is it that much of a surprise that she can hear through walls too?” HIs voice had a touch of awe, along with the fear.

Helena made a show of cupping her hand around her ear, and stuck her tongue out at the two of them. Then, seemingly bored, she wandered away and flopped down on her bed, hands behind her head. She closed her eyes for a moment, and behind the mirrored window the pencil flew out of the doctors fingers and clattered on the floor of the observation room. She heard some confused sputtering and she smiled.

 

She hummed a tune that the entire staff knew by heart now, singing snatches of lyrics as she waited for her lunch. And her chance.

 

  _It's far beyond the stars_

_It's near beyond the moon_

_I know beyond a doubt_

_My heart will lead me there soon_

_Happy we'll be beyond the sea...._

 

She didn’t react as the small slot at the bottom of the door rattled and opened, a tray of food sliding into the room. She kept humming, hearing the bolts being shot back into place, footsteps walking away, the voices of the two white-coats in the observation room still buzzing away. She got up, stretched casually, and collected her tray.

They drugged the food, of course. Sometimes the pudding tasted slightly different, and it made her sleepy. Not that it mattered, not any more. Her face soured for a moment. The last test they had taken her for - that was when she knew the drugs no longer worked on her. She had only gotten drowsy, but pretended to pass out as usual. She wanted to know what they did to her.

Now that she did, they were never going to do it again.

 

The scientists of DYAD seemed to love proving the same thing over and over, and they played with Helena like she was a self-repairing doll. Timing how long it took her body to recover from cuts of various depths, even going so far as to cut off the tip of the little finger on her right hand. The pain was bad, but the itching as it rapidly regrew had nearly driven Helena to distraction. Needles drew blood repeatedly, they scraped skin from the inside of her mouth, they hooked her up to various machines and measured whatever the bad man wanted them to measure.

 

Helena had wanted to kill them all. But instead, she lay limp, and listened, and learned. The various doctors talked freely in front of the seemingly unconscious subject, but beyond that - she could sense what they hid behind the words. Some were scared, here under some sort of coercion, but most seemed to be just doing a job. To them, she was nothing more than a lab rat. None of them emitted the burning righteousness of Dr Suchong. Helena knew that if it were possible, the bad man would have a thousand Helena’s created, just so he could take each one apart in a different way and discover what made them tick.

Apparently she had somehow absorbed the ADAM into every part of her system at a level never seen before, far beyond the Little Sisters. There were various theories - the larger-than-normal quantities she drank, the onset of hormonal changes, some genetic abnormality, or, as one of the scientists put it with a shrug, just one of those random things.

As she lay there, silent and slack-faced, Helena listened beyond the words and felt out the room she was in, then she expanded her senses outwards. This was a part of DYAD she’d never visited in happier times - none of it felt familiar at all. Ah, there were no vent openings: at least not the ones she was used to. Just small grates, too small to climb into, for the expulsion of air. She could feel _weight_ \- this section of the building was underneath the main part of DYAD, deep down, under the ocean floor. She continued to push her senses outwards, until she knew where all the exits were, and how to get there.

She had idly wondered where Rachel was. There was no inkling of her down here, and she hadn’t snuck down for one of her secret midnight visits for quite a while. _Maybe she had been locked up as well_. Thankfully, the testing came to an end and Helena was wheeled back to the cage to ‘recover’. She had feigned a slow awakening, all the while thinking, thinking, thinking. Pulling at her bottom lip, she had decided the next time they took her out of the cage would be the last time.

Now, she held up her right hand and peered at the pinky. Of course, the ADAM healed her so fast and so proficiently, her skin was flawless. None of the experiments left visible scars, but Helena sometimes thought she could still feel every touch of the scalpel, every sharp point of the needle. She imagined a network of scars under her skin, overlapping like feathers. She wondered what it would be like, above the ocean, flying up, up, into the sky, no one to stop her. She would fly all the way to Sarah, just like in the song,  and they would be together again.

 

So now Helena smiled and ate her pudding, then put on a good show of yawning and letting her head droop sleepily. After about fifteen minutes, she slumped on the floor and feigned the sleep of the drugged. She remembered what mama Tenenbaum used to say to her and Sarah. _I will be quiet as church mouse, maty_ she thought and couldn’t stop the quick flickering smile that passed her lips.

 

The white-coats had become somewhat complacent after all this time and didn’t check her as thoroughly as they used to, or strap her to the gurney as tightly. The wheels rattled and Helena’s head lolled on the bleach-white sheet. _Only two of them today. Good._ With her eyes shut and her other senses working overtime, she knew they were nearing the testing laboratory. When the wheels stopped rolling and the two men busied themselves opening the door, Helena quickly wiggled her left wrist out of the loose strap. Risking a glance through her lashes, she saw the code being punched into the keypad by one, the other checking the roster pinned to the wall.

“Suchong is in today.” he said in a wary voice. “Make sure she’s secured properly - you know what a stickler he is.”

“Stick up his arse.” mumbled the first man. Helena could hear the dislike in his voice, and felt his fear. One of the coerced, she decided. So when he turned to fix her bonds and found her ripping the restraint from her right wrist, she didn’t hit him as hard as she could have. He still flew backwards, hitting the wall with a thump and sliding down to the floor. His eyes were still open, if bleary, and they found Helena. She put her finger to her mouth as if to say _shhh._ The man’s face looked confused, then cleared. His eyes said _good luck_ and he quickly slumped as the other man turned, already pulling out an electrified baton, the kind they had used on the twins Big Daddy.

Her eyes narrowed to golden slits. Free from her bonds, she was on her feet in an instant, dodging the baton effortlessly, then plucking it from his hands with ease, the man slack jawed at her strength. He held his hands out in a conciliatory manner.

“Look. Helena. Don’t do anything stu-”

She looked at him and recognized him as one of those who had hurt her Daddy and separated her from Sarah and in that instant jabbed the fully charged baton into his stomach. His body went rigid as the electricity ran through his system, then jerked and jittered in place as Helena kept the pressure on, pushing him against the wall, only removing the baton when he slumped forward, then fell to the ground - a slightly blackened corpse with exposed teeth.

Helena spat on him.

Then she looked up at the door which had swung open, and at the shocked faces looking at her. She smiled and stepped into the room.

After a moment's hesitation, three of them rushed at her, grabbing her arms. She shrugged them off, flinging one into the wall, and knocking him out. The other two she grabbed by their skulls and rammed them together. They also fell down, unconscious. Helena then turned to the last white-coat.

Suchong. The bad man.

Even now, he didn’t seem afraid, merely curious, studying her with bright eyes behind his glasses.

“It appears - you - have been keeping secrets - Helena. The extent of -your- strength. Remarkable. I wonder. Do - you - have any other tricks?”

Helena stared at him, a sneer curling the corner of her lip like a worm. Then she quietly said,

“Do you want to see? Or do you want to _know_?”

“Hm. I wonder - how - invincible you really -are -.” he pulled a gun out of his lab coat pocket and aimed it at her, flicking the safety off. “Shall we -find- out?”

Helena looked at the gun, then back at this face, and hoped that it would work on something bigger than a pencil. She flexed her fingers and concentrated. The gun span in Suchong's fingers, and shot across the room. A little gasping laugh escaped from her mouth. The doctor looked taken aback for once, his eyes suddenly wary.

Then, she was up close, slapping his still outstretched hand aside and grasping his throat with one hand, pushing him up the wall while he choked and squirmed. Gently, she plucked the glasses from his nose and crushed them in her hand.

“I think -” she said slowly, “that you are a very зла людина.* Only darkness in your heart. So, that is what you get. Darkness.”

She let him slip down the wall, picked him up by his coat and threw him across the room, onto the operating table. Looming above him, her thumbs hooked and stabbed into his eyes. It felt like jello, after popping the initial resistance. Suchong screamed in pain, and, at last, fear. Helena held him down effortlessly, until he stopped screaming and his fumbling hands ceased to scrabble at her. She pulled her thumbs out of his eye sockets and wiped the blood and gore and fluids off on his shirt front. He still twitched and moaned as she shoved him off the table and he hit the floor, seemingly trying to get to his feet but unable to control his limbs. Helena shook her head and whispered,

“Now you _see_ what you _are._ ”

With that, she took his head in her hands, and twisted it. He fell limp at her feet. She looked down at him, silently, then leaned down and spat on his face.

 

Closing her eyes, Helena stood and stretched and listened. An alarm had been triggered somewhere, but she would be gone by the time they got here. The exits were nearby, then it was into the vent system and they couldn’t follow her in there. She stepped out into the hallway - the white-coat she had left alive was still there. Their eyes met and she could see fear in his now, as they moved between her and the laboratory door. Helena shrugged and strode away, moving quickly towards the stairwell exit.

As she swiftly padded up the stairs, the concrete cold on her bare feet, she remembered Rachel. The bad man was gone - but there were others. Rachel's awful mother…she pondered this. Sarah would want her to help the other girl. Helena nodded. Then she would go and find sestra-Rachel. Maybe she was ready to leave by now.

And it would be nice to have company, even if it was a touch...chilly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *No, you are the crazy one!  
> *evil man
> 
>  
> 
> I've had parts of this chapter in my head for a long time - Suchong deserved everything he got, quite frankly, both here and in-game.


	21. three too many three too many three too many

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarah, Rachel, and Helena are on the path to convergence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack-  
> -Chasing Shadows by Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli

**Rapture - 1966**

 

Something was poking Sarah in the subconscious, but she didn’t know what, yet. She felt like they had been crawling through the metal tunnels for hours. Her elbows and knees were sore, but the Little Sister ahead of her just kept going, like a clockwork toy.

“Hey,” Sarah whisper-shouted, “hey, Violet? Let’s rest for a minute, yeah?” She stopped and pulled her backpack around to get out her water canteen. Her throat was dusty and the cool liquid tasted better than Sarah ever could have imagined water tasting. She almost wished she’d slipped in her hip-flask, but bourbon probably wasn’t the best idea right now...

Violet had continued on but came to a halt slowly, like she was winding down. She looked around, her eyes large and round and golden. Her voice was higher now, and slightly shaky.

“Sar-ah? Sar-ah, we have to go! We have to! She’s waiting!” The girl moved back far enough to grab at Sarah’s jacket sleeve, and she tugged on it. “Angels don’t wait for slowpokes!”

“Alright, alright,” said Sarah, “just...relax for a bit, okay?” She placed her hand over the girls, and gave it a gentle squeeze. Violet jerked her hand away and crawled back to where she had been, hugging her knees and whispering to herself quietly.

 _Poor bloody kid_ Sarah thought. She and Helena had had each other and their Big Daddy; they’d never been alone like this. She dug through the bag for another snack bar, and passed another biscuit over to Violet, nudging her arm. The little girl grabbed the biscuit without looking at Sarah and shoved the entire thing in her mouth. Sarah’s eyebrows raised and she half-laughed. _She’s definitely been hanging around Helena._ She sighed and leaned back against the rusty metal wall. Everything felt like Helena to her - she could sense her presence, like she was going to turn the next corner and there she was gonna be. Her other half. God, how could she have left her for so long? What if Helena hated her for going away? What if she didn’t wanna come home with her? Why the hell didn’t she bring the bloody bourbon??

Sarah ran her hands through her hair and tried not to think about it. Just find her. Then deal with the rest. She slung the backpack over her shoulders again and said “Okay!”

Violet’s head jerked up, and she started crawling up the tunnel. Sarah followed, peering out a small grate as they passed. There was only darkness with a flickering pink light to see. She frowned and kept going. They passed through a section where two tunnels joined, forming a cross. Violet kept going straight ahead, but as Sarah turned her head she caught a glimpse of a pale yellow glow down to the left, and hesitated. Then she headed towards it, calling back over her shoulder.

“Violet? There’s something down here, I’m gonna check it out.” She could hear the little girl's protests but kept on. The light grew brighter as she neared the corner. A lamp? Sarah carefully peered around the corner into the adjoining tunnel and her jaw dropped as she saw before her a bottle almost identical to the one Rosalind Lutece had given to her, complete with ornate ‘L’ inscription and a label saying ‘Drink Me’, although this one also had ‘as needed’ in brackets underneath. It was roughly half the size of the original bottle and Sarah picked it, holding it in her palm.

“How the hell -” she muttered. Then scowled. This tunnel was long and dark, but she could see _another_ dim light about fifty feet ahead. Had the Luteces visited Rapture before bringing her here and left some sort of, what, trail? A scavenger hunt?

She could still hear Violet behind her, muttering but becoming panicked, _my top won’t spin my top won’t spin my top won’t spin._ Sarah chewed her lip, thinking. She could trust the Luteces, right? They had known mama Tenenbaum, and Mrs S trusted them enough to send her off with them, alone...and Mrs S didn’t trust _anybody._ Violet was a Little Sister, and Sarah naturally felt protective - but the girl had been acting increasingly odd and there was still something she couldn’t quite put her finger on about her…

 

“I’m going _this_ way,” she said firmly.

 

                                                                                                             ⇌   ⇌   ⇌

 

Rachel tapped her heel on the tiles, the sound echoing off the huge windows that made up an entire wall of the office. She had sent the girl out hours ago. They should have been back by now.

 

She sent the few Little Sisters that were left out to gather ADAM periodically - she barely needed any for her own upkeep, but her experiments used quite a bit - and when she realised that they weren’t returning because Helena was ‘saving’ them...well.

She had decided to do something about that.

 

It had been simple work to implant a subconscious command in one of the Little Sisters. The notes she had found on various types of brainwashing and hypnosis in Suchong's office had been extensive, and thorough. He had been a very useful monster, in his way.

 

And so Leda #5 had made her way back to DYAD like a filthy little homing pigeon, and with rather fortuitous timing. She - _apparently_ the girl wanted to be called Violet now, Helena was a _terrible_ influence - had scrabbled on her door shortly after Rachel had seen Sarah arrive back in Rapture. Simple work to implant a new command in her little head and send her out to patrol the tunnels towards the old bathysphere station -complete with a story about the mean silver lady to tug at Sarah’s heartstrings and lower her guard. Boo hoo.

Once Sarah introduced herself, the trigger was pulled, the trap was set. And Rachel would have her back. And then -

 

She looked out the window, arms crossed. Her teeth were clenched against each other, but Rachel didn’t notice. Then she did, and raised one arm to tap silver nails against her jaw, tiny sparks of electricity buzzing on her skin. She almost found it soothing.

If they didn’t come back to DYAD soon, she would have to go out into Rapture and find Sarah herself. And Rachel _hated_ leaving the DYAD. The splicers were barely more than an annoyance to her - she was stronger, and better, and faster than any of them. But the city was so chaotic, and clamorous, void of its former elegance and serenity.

And it made her shoes filthy.

 

She didn’t want to admit, even to herself, the trepidation she felt about going into the tunnel system, if it came to that, scrabbling along like an animal in a maze. She never knew the route, the walls felt like they were closing in on her, the metal _hurt_ her hands and knees, they were _dirty_ and _dark_ and.

So, she didn’t think about that. It wasn’t an option.

Rachel knew Helena had some sort of den to run off to - the ‘saferoom’ Dr Tenenbaum had set up all those years ago - but she didn’t know _where._ There were a million dark little holes to hide in here in Rapture. She sighed and gently drew her fingers down her cheek, tiny bursts of static whispering to her, and thought about Sarah’s face under the neon lights.

She was shaken from her reverie by the sound of footsteps. Her eyes snapped open and her heart leapt. Moving forward, she breathed in deep and rubbed her fingers together at her side, then opened the door. But it was only Leda #5 - _Violet_ \- with a face full of trepidation and tears. Rachel looked at her, then over her head at the empty hallway, then back at the girl.

“Well?” Her voice was cold, and the little girl shivered and scuffled her shoes against the floor.

“I’m sorry, mother! Sar-ah was coming along but then she chased some gold lights and wouldn’t come back!” Violet wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the floor. “She gave me biscuits.” she added, softly.

Rachel's mouth tightened. Her palm itched to slap the child but she clenched her fists instead.

“I’ve told you not to call me that,” she snapped. Gold lights? Were there fairies in the vents now? She sighed. Some new trick of Helena's, damn her.

Violet hesitated, then started jumping from one foot to the other, and quickly tugged on Rachel's sleeve, as if scared her hand would be cut off.

“M...um, miss? I know something!”

Rachel looked down at the tiny hand on her, and the girl snatched it away swiftly.

“I know where Big Sister keeps her toys!” Violet announced, voice raising excitedly. “She has lots of books and gives us sweet treats!”

Rachel’s forehead smoothed. She blinked, once, twice, then she smiled, red lips parting to show the gleam of teeth. She looked at the girl again and steeled herself to pat the girls head, surreptitiously wiping her hand on Violet's shoulder afterwards.

“Good girl,” she purred. “Can you show me where it is? And then you can have all the sweets you like. How does that sound?” Underneath the steadiness of her voice, her skin sang with excitement.

 

                                                                                                                 ⇌   ⇌   ⇌

 

Helena fetched up against a wall, and leaned over, retching.

Her head ached. Too much teleporting, too fast. She breathed, trying to slow her system down again, one hand against the rough plaster of the wall, the other dangling her helmet. Luckily she’d been wearing it when she’d mistakenly teleported herself into the ocean. She could swim, of course, and often did to make her way between the various sections of Rapture. You could traverse these via airlocks and tunnels, but Helena preferred to swim, and see the fish up close. They would dart around her, shimmering in the lights of the city. And it was peaceful out there. Quiet. Teleporting out there without the air supply her helmet provided would be not be as pleasant.

 

Slowly her head began to hurt less and Helena cautiously straightened up, leaning her back against the wall for a moment and closing her eyes. She tried to focus on Sarah and the girl again, but...she frowned as she got a sense of the girl - and shivered. She was somewhere cold?

Oh. Helena opened her eyes again and stared up at the ocean through the heavy glass overhead. The girl was in DYAD. With Rachel. She’d - done something to her. Put something in her head to make her go back.

She pulled at her lips. Maybe she should have - her mind tiptoed around the words - taken care. Of Rachel. Years ago, before more little girls got dragged back into this mess. She looked at them and she saw herself, and Sarah. Sarah. Sarah...she wasn’t with the girl anymore. Helena closed her eyes again and felt outwards. Everything was tinged with gold.

Suddenly, Helena grinned and her eyes opened, the golden glow so bright it lit her face like a halo. She knew where Sarah was. Sliding her helmet back on, she stretched, paused, then leapt up the wall and started running.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much more to go now, folks!
> 
> I'd like to give a shout out to everyone who's read this far - this is the first fic I ever started, and it's also the longest thing I've ever written, so it means the world to me if you've enjoyed it, and especially if you've left a comment <3


	22. So, you think you’re getting out of here?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helena and Rachel make a break for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack - Rhapsody #1 (cello) by Béla Bartók

**DYAD - 1962**

 

A siren howled from every corner of the DYAD building. Susan Duncan looked up sharply from her desk, then picked up the telephone and dialed a number, tapping her nails on the desk as she waited. When there was no answer, she hung up, checked her watch, and frowned. It had to be a problem with the specimen. It was the scheduled testing time. She sighed.

There was a knock on the door, then it opened, and Ferdinand entered, clearly bearing bad news.

Susan sighed again. “Oh dear,” she said, “What happened? Has it been secured?”

Ferdinand shook his head, scowling, the lines on his face deepening.

“She’s escaped. Suchong is dead. Four other staff rendered unconscious.” He gestured to the door. “You’d best review the footage. Seems our ‘big sister’ has some new tricks.”

She took the news rather well. Suchong had been brilliant, as a doctor and scientist, completely unfettered by the ethics and petty morality of the surface. Naturally, this made him somewhat unpredictable and occasionally a megalomaniac.  And now he had been neatly taken out of the equation, and Susan was in charge of the entire project.

“A great shame,” she stated, and headed towards the surveillance room.

 

Helena had reached the upper levels and was halfway to her old bedroom before the alarm began to rouse people. The sound was piercing; it set Helena’s teeth on edge and only made her move faster. She could hear footsteps hurrying in her direction, but she was already hidden by the time they ran past. She looked around the room. It was a mess, just the way they had left it. She sniffled, wiping an arm across her face. The room was full of Sarah still. Her drawings on the floor, her shoes lying haphazardly from the last time she kicked them off, her hair ribbons on the rug.

Helena crouched down and picked one up, rubbing her fingers over the red satin, twirling it around her hand and brushing the silky texture against her cheek. She imagined she could still catch the scent of Sarah’s hair.

The sound of footsteps came back and Helena stood up, swiftly tying the ribbon around her wrist and moving to the vent opening. She carefully lifted up the poster that covered it and shimmied in, letting the poster fall back down, hiding her again. She stayed still as she heard the door open, then a brusque voice say  _ clear.  _ The door shut, and Helena breathed again. She started crawling towards Rachel. She could sense the other girls anger. It was like fire.

The route she took was leading her past Rachel’s mother's office. Helena slithered to the vent and peered through the opening. The office was empty. More footsteps sounded outside, short precise steps. Helena smiled as Rachel appeared in the doorway, and touched her fingers to the grate. When Rachel didn’t notice the waggling fingers, she spoke softly.

“Rachel! Psst, sestra-Rachel!”

Rachel froze for a fraction of a second, then lifted her eyes to the vent, turning as she did so her back was to the ever-present security camera. Without lifting her head, she hissed,

“ _ What  _ are you still doing here, Helena?  _ Everyone _ is looking for you.”

Helena grasped the vent opening and pulled her face closer.

“I came to fetch  _ you,  _ of course.”

Rachel’s eyes darted up, then away.

“Why?” Her voice was faintly incredulous. “I’m  _ not _ your sister. And. And you’re  _ nothing _ to me. Just  _ go _ . Before they catch you.”

Helena studied Rachel’s face - lips in a tight line, eyes cast downwards, perfectly blank. But she could read what was happening behind the mask. Anger. Fear. Indecision. Loneliness.

She opened the vent and stuck her head out. Rachel’s eyes opened wide and she quickly turned and shot an electro-bolt at the camera. It made a sad noise and tilted downwards, red light fading.

“Are you  _ trying _ to get caught?” she snapped.

Helena sighed. 

“Sarah wouldn’t want me to leave you here.” she said in a reasonable tone. “And I.” She touched her mouth thoughtfully. “I don’t want to be alone. You are all I have now.” She tilted her head to the side and looked at Rachel. “You are lonely too. I can feel it.”

Rachel’s mouth tightened even further. Then her shoulders drooped by the merest degree. She couldn’t deny that. For all her mother’s talk of more suitable companions, there weren’t any other children left to be friends with. Even if she’d  _ wanted _ friends, which she  _ didn’t.  _ And, it was so  _ boring _ here. All they wanted her to do was practice and study. She was escorted everywhere by guards armed with taser-batons. They’d moved her into her own suite of rooms, and locked her in every night. They’d _ known _ she had been sneaking down to see Helena. It was humiliating to even think about. They’d been  _ watching _ her the entire time, like it was all part of their  _ experiment.  _

“So what do you suggest? We just...go and live with the splicers?” Rachel shook her head and crossed her arms. “That’s ludicrous, Helena.”

Helena made a  _ mmm _ sound and plastered her hands to her cheeks, flashing her teeth in a grin.

“I know where we can go.” she said. “Maty had a place. A safe-room. We can get there through the tunnels. And then -” she shrugged. “We find a way to get to Sarah. Or she will come back for us.”

Rachel looked at Helena skeptically. But the girl's face was full of sincere and unquenchable hope and belief. Rachel found herself wavering. She didn’t think Sarah would ever come back, but it became harder to believe that in the face of Helena’s absolute certainty and the burning gold of her eyes. She looked up at the other girl, and then at the darkness behind her.

“I’m not going through the tunnels.” she stated flatly. 

Helena huffed at her. “Are  _ you _ trying to get me caught?” She shook her mass of blonde hair, like a lion.

Rachel sidled over to the doorway and peered out.

“They’ve already searched this floor. We can get out through Little Wonders. But we need to go  _ now,  _ before security comes back.” She’d managed to give her own guards the slip easily. They’d all been called to help with the search. But  _ someone _ would come looking for her. They always did. And she was bored with being watched.

Helena studied her with those strange golden eyes, then slid out of the vent, landing in a crouch. When she stood up, Rachel’s eyes widened slightly. When Helena moved towards her, Rachel took an involuntary step backwards. Helena was  _ much  _ taller than she’d been the last time Rachel had seen her. It was somewhat intimidating. But she recovered quickly and merely set her jaw, refusing to drag her head upwards to meet Helena’s gaze. 

“Come on then,” said Helena. Rachel nodded, once, and headed towards the doorway. 

 

Only to be blocked by Ferdinand, and Susan Duncan.

 

“Going somewhere, Rachel?” he asked, smirking. Susan just smiled in satisfaction when she saw Helena, and lifted the tranquilizer gun in her hand. Rachel stiffened, and raised her hand to zap her mother, but could only watch in surprise as the gun flew out of Susan's hand and clattered onto the floor at Helena’s feet. Helena’s mouth twitched in a smile. Her eyes moved between Susan and Ferdinand, who had pulled a baton out of his jacket and flicked it open, the charge whining. 

Rachel heard Helena make a noise somewhere between a scoff and a growl. But Rachel moved faster this time, and she threw both hands forward. The temperature in the room dropped and Susan shouted at her as Ferdinand slowly became encased in ice.

“Rachel! What are you...stop!” 

But it was too late. He was frozen solid. 

Susan took one look at Rachel’s face, her horrified visage reflected in the twin pools of silver. She stepped backwards into the hall, turned, and ran.

Rachel took a half-step after her, flames already dancing along her fingertips, until Helena gripped her shoulder and quietly said  _ no. _

“No time,” she added as Rachel pulled away, shooting her a venomous look. Helena jerked her chin at the ice-block that was Ferdinand. “What about him? He’ll thaw out eventually.”

Rachel smiled. Helena thought about sharks.

“No, he won’t.” Rachel declared. She walked around the desk, trailing her fingers along it, until she reached Ferdinand. She lifted a hand, placing her fingers on the ice, not even feeling the cold. She could faintly see the man’s face, frozen in terror. Literally. She realised Helena was beside her, also raising her hand. The two girls looked at each other sidewards and reached a silent agreement. They pushed.

 

The frigid mass tipped and fell, smashing into a thousand tiny shards of bloody ice.

 

Rachel felt a thrill in the pit of her stomach. Helena’s hand hovered above her shoulder again, then dropped. She moved towards the door.

“We need to go,” she hissed. “Now.”

Rachel dragged her eyes away from what used to be her monitor and followed her. She could come back, anytime, and deal with her mother. She looked forward to it.

 

The two of them ran down the hallways until they reached the doors to Little Wonders, now warped from the ice that had covered them. Helena shoved them open easily and looked around curiously. Everything seemed...smaller now. She half expected to see Mr Bubbles still lying on the floor. She missed him. But there was no time for nostalgia. 

Tightening her lips, she kept moving, trying not to outdistance Rachel. Helena could sense something new within the other girl. No…not new. But it had become more prominent. A kind of darkness shot through with silver. As unkillable as Helena suspected herself to be, turning her back on the other girl for too long was probably a bad idea.

 

Rachel had paused to reseal the door with a thick layer of ice, then she joined Helena at the exit to Rapture proper, sending short bursts of electricity at every camera she spotted. She was silently surprised they hadn’t seen any guards on the way out.

 

“Yes,” agreed Helena, “Security should have guards posted down here.”  _ Maybe they’re scared _ she thought, with a strange sense of pride. She noticed Rachel glaring at her with narrowed eyes, and raised her own eyebrows questioningly. Rachel shook her head.

“Stay out of my head, Helena.” Her voice was cold, but Helena heard the undertone of bitterness.

_ Oh. _ Helena couldn’t stop herself from feeling out gently...then she stopped. Rachel had been under lock and key and constant surveillance for months. Someone poking around in her mind was just as bad. Helena pulled at her bottom lip, then nodded. 

“Okay, sestra-Rachel,” she said agreeably, “I will not -” she waved her hands around and searched for the right word to describe the feeling she had picked up. “ - invade your head.” 

Rachel rolled her eyes. “And stop calling me that!”

Helena’s shoulders slumped and she looked down at her hands. 

“Yes...Rachel.”

Rachel turned away, fists clenched, and concentrated on her breathing for a moment. Then she sent a stream of electricity at the keypad which opened the front doors. There was a crackling and buzzing and sparks flew, then the double doors swung inwards. She walked out into Rapture. Helena trailed behind - her mass of hair brushing against the top of the doorframe. She felt an intense surge of longing for her sister, and a seemingly bottomless well of sadness.

 

Rachel was smiling now, a small smile of satisfaction. One arm across her chest, tucked into the elbow of the other. One hand tapping fingernails against her jaw. There was a still a slight buzz around her hands. Her eyes moved around the area, then looked down at her clothing. She was still wearing a version of the pinafore dress, the same style she’d been wearing most of her life, it seemed.  _ I’m fourteen, almost,  _ she thought indignantly,  _ I shouldn’t be dressed like a child.  _ She turned her head and looked Helena up and down, taking in the baggy pyjamas and bare feet, noting the red ribbon around one wrist, ignoring the tear-filled golden eyes.

Rachel clasped her hands together in front of her and said brightly,

“Let’s go shopping.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why, yes, I do enjoy dropping Ferdinand into fics for the sole purpose of killing him :)


	23. Only when we are free from innocence, do we know ourselves.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helena and Rachel go shopping...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack -   
>  \- The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Cab Calloway

**Rapture - 1962**

 

Shoes stood in a straight line - shiny black leather, deep red snakeskin, pristine alabaster satin. After a surreptitious glance at Helena barely needing to stretch to reach the highest shelves, Rachel narrowed it down to the ones with the very highest of heels. She had eschewed the full-skirted frocks for streamlined skirts and fitted blouses, building a neat, folded pile and adding a few beautifully cut blazers. She topped it off with a voluminous ivory woolen coat with lapels that curled in layers.

Helena watched her with a bemused expression, as if Rachel were a child taking dress-up time far too seriously. Who was there to dress up  _ for _ ?

 

The two of them had made their way to the high-end clothing stores in Fort Frolic, dodging splicers when they could, leaving bodies behind them when they couldn’t. Helena experimented with the strength of her telekinesis, while Rachel lashed out almost gleefully, using her plasmids with a new viciousness. Now they were barricaded in a store, taking their pick of what remained. Rachel had worked her way through the shoes, while Helena tried on hat after hat after hat.

 

She found the myriad of dresses beautiful, but ultimately impractical, and her pile consisted mostly of trousers and undershirts and vests from the men’s section. The trousers were at least long enough for her legs, if a little baggy on her still slender frame.  Also - hats. A teetering pile of hats. Every single hat in the store. 

Rachel looked over at the huge stack and raised an eyebrow.

 

“Helena...really? How are you even going to carry all of them?”

 

“I could...wear them all?” Helena suggested hopefully.

 

Rachel scoffed at her,  while she tried on another pair of stilettos. Standing up, she teetered a little at first, then started walking up and down the catwalk between the dressing-rooms, watching herself in the mirror.

_ click-click-click _

As she stepped her way backwards and forwards, growing steadier and more confident, Helena watched her with her head tilted, golden eyes glowing softly. She brushed her hair back off her face, the white-gold curls long and unkempt, unlooping the ribbon from her wrist and tying her hair back in a low ponytail. The colour of the ribbon caught the light like a ruby, and matched the one dress that Helena hadn’t been able to resist. She could see Sarah wearing it, her dark hair flowing over her shoulders, grinning at Helena just like she used to, and taking her hand to lead her home. She stroked the silky fabric and sighed wistfully. 

 

Looking back at Rachel, she asked “Don’t they hurt your feet?”

Rachel gave her a sidewards glance.

“Not at all,” she lied. The shoes pinched and squeezed, not that she would ever admit it. It wasn’t the worst pain she’d endured over the years.

She stared at herself in the mirror, running her hands down her ribs to smooth the jacket front, tucking her hair behind her ears. Then she spotted the reflection of the cosmetics counter, and her lips curved.

 

Ten minutes later, she and Helena sat on the floor facing each other in front of the mirror, Rachel's lips already painted a bright red. She was holding Helena's chin and carefully running the shiny rose-gold tube over her lips. She didn’t usually get this close to Helena and the golden eyes were even more disconcerting at this distance, although she could see the slightly darker iris under the glow if she looked hard enough. 

 

“Alright,” she said, “You’re ready.”

 

They both looked into the mirror. Rachel’s mouth curled in satisfaction with her own appearance. She no longer looked like a little girl, and though she’d kicked the shoes off for the moment, she was determined to wear them from now on. The sound they made on the hard floor gave her a shivery feeling unrelated to the plasmids, and the cut of the skirt made her steps short and sharp.

 

Helena stared at her reflection in the mirror, who pursed her lips and turned her head side to side, examining the lipstick, and the pinkish eyeshadow Rachel had added. She didn’t like to look in mirrors any more. Her face, her hair and eyes, were a constant reminder of how different she was from Sarah. Now she looked like someone else altogether; not like Sarah at all. She was too pale, her hair too blond, her lips too red.

 

“Yes, very pretty, Rachel.” she muttered, then wiped her hand across her mouth, trying to clean the lipstick off. The waxy substance was resilient and soon her face and hands were covered in blood-red smears and she began to cry in frustration. 

 

“It’s fine...I’ll go and find some cold cream and a facecloth.” Rachel’s hands clenched in her lap for a moment. “Don’t cry.” She gritted her teeth and reached a hand out to Helena’s arm.

Helena flinched away from her touch.

The mirror shattered.

Rachel drew back, her stomach knotted tight. Her skin started humming.

 

“What was _that_.” she said flatly. 

 

Helena shook her head dazedly.

 

“я не знаю,” she whispered, “Sarah...душевний біль.” *

 

She blinked and sat up, cocking her head like she was listening to something. The air was pulsing. She could hear a cacophony of voices, and she couldn’t stop it this time. Words leapt out at her.  _ Suchong. Separate. Sarah. If she found out. _

 

Rachel watched with a sinking feeling as Helena lifted her head and stared at her, through her, with those golden eyes, unblinking.

 

“If I ever found out...what? Rachel?”

 

Rachel desperately tried to clear her mind, but all she could think about now was Sarah, and Suchong's voice saying  _ twins can be difficult to separate _ and her own replying  _ Sarah mustn’t know about this conversation.  _ The words repeated over and over in her head, like a recording. If Helena knew what Rachel had done, she would kill her. She had killed Suchong, because he had taken her away from her sister.  _ What would she do if she found out that Rachel had agreed to help him? _

“I  _ told _ you to stay  _ out _ of my head.” Rachel hissed, her fingers clawed, but not aimed towards the other girl. She had seen how Helena fought the splicers - how fast she was, how strong, how agile.  _ She could snap my neck before I even raise my hand _ . It galled her to think that Helena was better than her in any way. She was an  _ accident,  _ a freak of nature and science. Rachel had been  _ born _ into this, molded and polished by the very best minds Rapture had to offer. She would  _ not _ be afraid. 

 

Helena was between her and the way out. Rachel’s powers weren't much use against her, even as a distraction, so she lashed out in another way.

 

“Sarah is  _ never _ coming back, you know.” Rachel spat the words out. “She and your precious  _ maty.  _ They left you behind and  _ they’re not coming back.”  _

Helena’s face retained its slightly puzzled air, but her lips began to tremble and her eyelashes flutter as Rachel went on.

“They’re up in the sunshine, all of your so-called  _ sestras _ and we’re  _ trapped _ down here.” Her voice was low and venomous now. “It’s been _ two years. No one _ is coming back for you because no one  _ cares.”  _

 

Helena wrapped her arms around herself as the smaller mirrors around the cosmetic counter started to split and shatter.  _ It wasn’t true!  _ All she wanted was to wrap her arms around her sister and tell her how much she missed her.  _ Sarah would always come for her! _ She squeezed her eyes shut and felt Sarah’s hands in hers again, holding so tight that it felt like the bones would break. She heard Sarah’s voice, an endless stream of reassurance and promises in her head after they had been separated.  _ She promised! _

_ Crack-crack-crack _

The well of loneliness and misery she had fallen into when Sarah had disappeared yawned open again and she felt the pain welling up until it threatened to split her open and she threw her head back and  _ screamed _

 

Rachel staggered backwards, hands to her ears, her mouth a perfect circle of red, tiny sparks spitting off her skin.

 

The remaining mirrors shattered, pieces falling onto the floor in a glittering mess. The entire store seemed to vibrate as the scream lingered in the air.

 

Helena slumped forwards, gasping. Something had...happened. She couldn’t even articulate it to herself - like a heavy mass of emotion had been released via every pore and shoved reality aside. She stood up, blinking, and looked at her hands. They looked the same...but she felt different somehow. And now she could hear the voices perfectly. She looked at Rachel.

 

Rachel was kneeling, hands still clasped to her head, blood trickling out of one nostril. She blinked rapidly and worked her jaw back and forth, like someone trying to ‘pop’ their eardrums. Seeing that Helena had stopped - whatever it was - she chanced a look up at the other girl just in time to see her vanish in a flash of purple light. 

And reappear a fraction of a second later at the other end of the store.

Then she disappeared  _ again,  _ the purple light hurting Rachel’s eyes. This time she heard the sound of the air displacing directly in front of her, and she stared upwards, mouth slightly open, into those glowing golden eyes. She felt a stab of fear, and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for Helena to pass judgement and strike.

 

But she didn’t.

 

The faintest of breezes touched her face. When Rachel opened her eyes, Helena was gone. After waiting a moment, she staggered to her feet. Balancing herself against a shelf, she slid her feet into the closest pair of heels, and stepped forwards, shoes grinding the broken mirror shards into the carpet. The sound was very loud in the silence. She found a pile of delicate lace handkerchiefs and wiped the blood from her face. 

Rachel had heard of the telekinesis plasmid, of course, but she hadn’t seen Helena actually  _ do _ any splicing. Was she somehow developing her powers  on her own, unintentionally? All the  _ pain _ and interminable  _ lectures _ and  _ training _ that Rachel had had to go through, and Helena just - she snapped her fingers and watched the flame dance on her fingertips. 

It wasn’t fair.

  
  


                                                                                                                  ⇌   ⇌   ⇌

  
  
  


Helena appeared, purple light like a halo around her. She was somewhere near to Olympus Heights, she discovered, squinting at the street signs. She felt dizzy and sick to her stomach. There should be a - yes. There was a vent opening just down the street, and she made her way there, keeping one hand against the wall so she didn’t fall over. Once up in the tunnels again, she rested for a moment, trembling slightly. She knew that Rachel had attacked her with words because she couldn’t do it with weapons. She knew that Rachel was afraid of her, deep down. But Helena’s deepest fear, that she kept buried down so deep sometimes even she forgot, was that her family had forgotten her and were leaving her down here to rot. She had tried to be nice to Rachel, for Sarah’s sake, but not even her sister could blame her for running away now. Now that she knew what Rachel had done. She had  _ known  _ and didn’t warn them. She had wanted Sarah for herself. But still - Helena couldn’t kill her. She just couldn’t.  

Trying to shut the girl’s hurtful words out of her mind, she started to crawl forward. Once she got to the safe-room, she could rest. No one would find her there.

 

She could rest, and then figure out how to get to Sarah. She would not rot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I do not know......heartache
> 
>  
> 
> Soooo, this chapter was initially written quite a ways back, mostly for fun with the idea of these two dressing up and being friends.  
> Obviously, I had to do some extensive rewrites...


	24. The world is not ready for me, yet here I am.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel returns to DYAD.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack -  
> \- Cello Suite #1 by J.S Bach  
> \- Mack the Knife by Ella Fitzgerald
> 
> for anyone who's interested, I made a playlist for this fic! All the chapter 'soundtrack' songs are there plus a few bits from the Bioshock score. https://soundcloud.com/katsadako/sets/beyond-the-sea-an-orphan-black

_Rachel_ \- **1962**

 

Rachel stretched her left hand out and inspected her nails. The silver shone back at her. She nodded, satisfied, then began painting the other hand. It had been three days since they had left DYAD. Three days since _she_ had left Rachel. But that was - fine. Rachel was fine by herself. She didn’t need Helena. She didn’t need _anyone_ . She was _fine_.

She swiped polish on the last nail of her right hand, then held out both hands and admired the gleam of silver reflecting the lights around the mirror. She flicked a wrist and sparks flew as she let the power build up in her hand, keeping her eyes on her reflection as her eyes took on a silvery cast. Then she flicked her other wrist, both hands crackling with electricity now, and her steady gaze now reflected solid silver. Rachel held out both hands, and saw with satisfaction that the polish matched her eyes exactly. She shook both hands and cut off the plasmids. Her eyes returned to their normal colour.

 

She let her gaze sweep around the room. She’d made her way to Olympus Heights, and into the Artemis Suites, one of the most palatial of the apartment buildings in Rapture. Or, at least it _had_ been. Like the rest of the city, there were broken windows and blood on the walls, some of the lower apartments had flooded, and a tram had crashed into the front entrance at some point...but the very top penthouse was still untouched. It was like it had been waiting for her. The building rose straight up into the ocean. Ceiling to floor windows lined two walls of the living room, schools of fish shining like jewels as they passed, luminous blue jellyfish floating upwards. Rachel liked to stand there, watching the rest of the city through her own faint reflection.

The dressing room just off the bedroom was walled with mirrors. Her heart had given a loud **_thump_ ** the first time she had walked in there. All those reiterations of her face and form, all _hers._ The only set of eyes watching her were _hers_. She had spent hours in here, pulling clothes on and off, walking back and forth in her heels, experimenting with the piles of cosmetics and jewellry and frippery, shelves and shelves of finery for her to play with, examining herself from every possible angle.

 

That first night, Rachel had celebrated her new-found independence by getting drunk. There was a fully stocked bar in a charming alcove between the living room and the kitchen, and a book of cocktail recipes which she had dived into. She had woken the next morning with a piercing headache and a vague but uncomfortable memory of weeping into her martini glass and telling Sarah she missed her. She hadn’t touched the liquor since, and had taken the copy of ‘Beyond the Sea’ from the record player and thrown it, as hard as she could, from the upper level down onto the floor of the foyer. She didn’t even know why she’d gone to the trouble of obtaining a copy; she’d gone into Rapture Records to delve into their classical collection, not look for cheesy big band tunes.

 

Otherwise she’d occupied her time with reading. Whomever had lived in this apartment had wide and varied tastes, and a bookshelf that covered one entire wall. They’d obviously been elite enough to not let Andrew Ryan’s rules apply to them either - Rachel spotted several titles that had been banned in Rapture, as well as copies of all the major religious texts. These had been in a small locked section, and she flicked through them curiously. Religion had no place in Rapture, and even less so in DYAD. But she had studied mythology, and saw that it was hardly any different. Rachel decided that she would be her own creator, her own saviour. She had laughed as flames danced along her fingers, and the holy books and religious trinkets had burned in the grand open fireplace.

The massive kitchen contained both a walk-in pantry, full of tinned goods and basic dry food, and a huge freezer, stocked high with pre-prepared gourmet meals, cuts of various meats, a variety of ice creams and other desserts, piles of frozen vegetables in plastic...it seemed to Rachel that the previous occupant had been _prepared_ for a siege.

But there was absolutely no trace of their identity. No photos crowded the various glossy surfaces. The wardrobes were empty of clothing. No papers anywhere, nothing with handwriting on it, nothing at all. It didn’t matter anyway, Rachel had decided. This was _her_ place now.

Over the next week, she worked her way through the library; worked on perfecting her new image; worked towards forgetting about Sarah altogether. There was no point wishing for anything different than what _was_. She made a few more trips to the boutiques for bits and pieces - stockings, underwear, toiletries - all of the highest quality. There were fewer splicers every time she went out. Bad news spread, even amongst monsters, and Rachel was very bad news. Even through their ADAM-starved insanity, the splicers could sense that. They moved into other sections of Rapture and fought ever more bitterly among themselves.

 

Two weeks after leaving DYAD, Rachel woke in the middle of the night, hair stuck to her forehead with sweat. She kicked the covers off, but the air on her skin felt like blades of ice. Sharp pains stabbed her in the stomach, then she squeezed her eyes shut as her vision blurred and became tinged with purple. She fumbled her way out of bed, staggering to the bathroom, falling to her knees just in time. She felt slightly better after vomiting, but the pain still wracked her body and she felt lightheaded.

_What is           wrong with me_

Grasping the edge of the marble counter, she pulled herself to a standing position. She ran the tap and splashed water on her face, rinsing out her mouth thoroughly. The water was cold and refreshing and her head cleared a little, but the pain - the pain in her body stubbornly refused to ease. Rachel tried to think clearly. It couldn’t be food poisoning - that would have come on sooner. But what else -

 

Rachel lifted her head and looked at her eyes. They were bloodshot and the pupils were tiny. Pressing her fingers down on her throat, she felt her pulse throb in an irregular pattern. Pain shot through her again and her knees buckled, but she gripped the counter and didn’t fall. There was a faint whispering at the edge of hearing. She tilted her head, trying to make it out, but it was just wordless susurration. Familiar, somehow. She breathed, deliberately, in and out. In. Out. Lifting one hand up, she saw it was trembling. In. Out. In. Out.

_it must be._ In. Out. _the ADAM_ In. Out. _they must have been._ In. _keeping me dosed up_   Out.     _in the food_

_Why didn’t mother   tell me   why    keep it  secret   I  don’t      understand_

 

She slowly realized she’d slipped down to the floor. The tiles were lovely and cool against her burning skin, and she bent forward and pressed her forehead against them. She moved one hand, feebly attempting to flick her wrist, to no avail. There was a sputtering of sparks, then, nothing. Her last thought before slipping into unconsciousness was _how dare she_

  


Rachel woke several hours later, clearheaded enough to remember what had happened, but still in pain. Her bones _ached_ . She sat up slowly, but still too fast, and she was sick again - a bright chartreuse colour splattered across the white tiles. Groaning, she lifted herself up again, washed her face again, brushed her teeth, bathed as best she could. A tiny white flame of anger burned deep in her and so she managed to dress and make up her face and hair. She would have to return to DYAD to find out exactly what was happening to her. She would have to walk back in there, and _ask_ her mother for _help_ . Susan would be thrilled. Rachel remembered the look on her mother's face when she had frozen that horrible wrinkly man. Hmm. Maybe not _thrilled_.

 

Her journey back to DYAD was uneventful. It was a small comfort, that the rampaging monsters of Rapture dared not try her again. Rachel was relieved, in a quiet corner of her mind. With her plasmid power cut off, unable to walk more than a few steps without without leaning on a wall, or lamp post, she would be an easy mark.

 

She never noticed the figure keeping pace high above her, with watchful golden eyes, or heard the cut-off screams of the few stragglers that had ventured into this section and were picked off the streets blocks away.

 

Entering by the side door she used to sneak out of so often, Rachel found the place almost as it used to be. Brightly lit labs in use, the distant thrumming of various equipment, the subdued murmuring of scientists. She steadied herself with a hand on the wall, then stood, straight-backed and head held high. The heels clicked as she made her way to her mother’s office.

Susan Duncan was preoccupied with a pile of papers, her eyes shining with the fervor of scientific discovery, and so had entered her office oblivious to the figure sitting behind the desk. Papers flew into the air as Rachel said evenly,

“Hello, mother.”

Susan’s hand briefly fluttered to her throat and her eyes darted back to the door, before she set her mouth.

“Rachel.” She paused and looked at Rachel closely. “How are you feeling?”

Rachel lifted an eyebrow.

“I think you know.” she answered drily. “I seem to be experiencing some kind of...withdrawal. My plasmids have stalled. And I am in a great deal of pain.”

Susan nodded. _She doesn’t even have the grace to try to look ashamed_ thought Rachel, as she inwardly struggled to keep from slumping in her chair.

“Yes. The process we undertook with you was quite complex and layered.” Susan shifted into doctor mode as she spoke, examining Rachel’s eyes and taking her vitals. “We hoped to find a way around the addiction problem, and the other effects that ADAM can have. Mutation, insanity, death...the wretched splicers out there,” she shook her head, “They could never obtain enough ADAM to quench their cravings now. The more you use, the more you need. But with you, Rachel,” her tone took on the fervent quality Rachel had always associated with Dr Suchong, “we finally had found a way of splicing the genetic code without a need for increased dosage. Just a small dose once every ten days.”

Rachel’s voice cut through her mother's.

“Why would you hide this from me?” She placed her hands on the desk, palms down, to steady herself. “I assume you were putting the...medication...in my food. Why not just inject it?”

“Hm. That would have been my preference. No need to protect you from the realities of your condition.” Susan gave an exasperated sigh. “But your father…”

Rachel’s hands gave an involuntary jerk. Susan wrapped her fingers around one, keeping her thumb on Rachel’s pulse, frowning at the heat of the girls skin. Rachel’s eyelids fluttered and she tried to keep her voice steady as she asked, “Where _is_ father?” Her voice took on a sardonic tone. “Have you locked _him_ up as well?”

Susan rolled her eyes. “That was for your own protection. And for the protection of the Project.”

Rachel scoffed. “You’ve _lost_ your project.”

“Have we?” Susan asked vaguely. “Rachel, we need to get you to the medical wing. Your symptoms are extremely severe.”

Rachel waved a hand dismissively. Or she tried to, but to her dismay her arms didn’t have the strength to even lift a finger. The headache had returned, pressing into her skull like a vice, and she realised she was trembling. Her mother’s voice seemed to be coming from a long way away, echoing, like she was at the other end of a tunnel. She felt hot, and cold, and suddenly very, very tired. As she slipped into unconsciousness, she heard her mother’s distant voice say,

“Yes, we got one of them back, at least. No, unfortunately. The other- “

  


                                                        ⇌   ⇌   ⇌

  


Rachel’s eyes blinked open to see a plain white ceiling. The vestiges of her fevered dreams scattered across her mind - she’d dreamt of Sarah, tugging on her hand, leading her to a small dark room, and shoving her inside.  Helena staring down at her from the ceiling, huge wings spread out behind her. Rachel had been outside the walls, drowning, while Sarah and Helena skipped along inside, laughing.  A blonde woman standing at a huge glass window, overlooking a burning city. Her brow creased slightly. Dreams. They didn’t mean anything.

She tried flexing her fingers, and moving her limbs. The pain was gone, although she still had a mild headache, and she could move. Taking a deep breath, she _pushed,_ and with deep satisfaction saw the flames roll along her fingers. She quickly clenched her fist as the door rattled open, and a slightly scruffy man with glasses peered into the room.

“Father?” Rachel pushed herself to a sitting position, acting weaker than she felt. He moved to the bedside to help her. His hands were steady, but he looked markedly older than the last time Rachel had seen him...whenever that had been.

“My dear Rachel,’ he said, brushing some stray hairs off her forehead. “How are you feeling now, hmm?” He took her pulse, nodding and giving her a worried smile.

“Better, thank you.” she answered softly. “I...I was scared that I was going to die.” Looking up at her father through her eyelashes, she saw guilt flash over his face, and felt a mixture of satisfaction and remorse.

“Yes, well…” he cleared his throat, “We never planned on you running away for so long.” He sighed. “It was my decision to keep the nature of the dosage from you. I thought - well. I wanted you to have some semblance of a normal childhood.” He pulled a small jar from the pocket of his lab coat and shook it. It rattled. The pills were the sickly yellow-green of ADAM on one side, the vibrant blue of EVE on the other. “You’re old enough now to take responsibility for your...condition. One every ten days, and no more ‘plasmid blues’.” He hesitated, then pulled a chair up to the bed and sat down. “You’ve been a major part of this project for your entire life, Rachel. But you’re not a child any longer -” He gave her a certain look and Rachel realised he was tip-toeing around what she’d done to Ferdinand. “- so it’s time you were let in.”

She frowned. Her entire life? She’d only been undergoing treatment and testing for the last few years…

Her face froze into a mask.

“How old was I when you started giving me ADAM, father?”

He looked shamefaced. “Shortly after your second birthday. The previous subjects hadn’t...they weren't as resilient as you.”

Rachel felt slightly sick, but not from the withdrawal she’d gone through. She’d been barely more than a toddler and they’d used her as some kind of lab rat? Ethan kept talking, like a valve had been released.

“The doses were very small, at first, too small for you to develop any of the negative side effects, but enough to see the benefits. You were never ill. Your intelligence was advanced beyond your age. If you’d been the type to scrape knees, it would have healed quicker than normal. You were a special little girl. And then, as time went on, your mother, and Dr Suchong, wanted to step up the treatment. Increase the dosage, give you plasmids, see how far they could push your evolution - they liked to call it ‘neolution’. I hoped we would find a cure for the ADAM sickness.” His eyes looked haunted for a moment. “It was all for the good of the city. Rapture needed a savior. I hoped that it would be you, Rachel.”

Rachel pointedly stared at the wall, her head turned away from her father. _My entire life_ she thought, _and I had no idea._ A cold, calm fury had settled over her.

Ethan leaned closer. “I was very sorry to hear about your friends. I know it must have been hard -”

Rachel laughed.

“I would have left with Dr Tenenbaum, you know,” she said, still staring at the wall. “Sarah was… she was the only friend I’d ever had. You and mother and Dr Suchong - you all ruined it. And. And then you _left_ . You left me just like Sarah did. You left me here with _them._ ” She turned and looked her father in the eyes. “You don’t deserve me any more.” He drew back, a slightly horrified look on his face. She dimly realised he’d never seen her eyes in this state before. Lifting a finger, she gathered her strength and sent an electrical stream at the camera up in the corner of the room. It exploded in a shower of sparks. Yanking the covers off the bed, she got up and stretched, then looked down at her father, who now cowered in his chair.

“Rachel! Please, I understand you’re...upset. I always tried to protect you from the worst of it.” His voice was desperate. “Rachel, do you remember how I used to read to you? You picked up all the words so quickly...I was so proud of you…”

She stared at him, then tilted her head slightly to the side.

“No. I don’t remember at all.” she said flatly, and raising her hands, she shot a double stream of electricity surging towards Ethan. He jittered and spasmed for what seemed like hours, but in reality was less than a minute, until his lifeless, smoking corpse fell in a heap on the floor.

Rachel had to step over it to get to the cabinet in the corner.

She pulled out a bag containing the clothes she’d arrived in, along with a new pink pinafore dress. “Really?” she murmured, and calmly ripped the fabric to shreds.

Once she was dressed, she picked up the pill bottle from the floor and slid it into her skirt pocket.

_Your turn, mother_ she murmured to herself.

 

She garnered a few strange looks from some of the white-coats walking the halls, but there was no outcry, no panic. Word must have spread throughout DYAD that the prodigal daughter had returned, thought Rachel wryly. Once they managed to get through that door, and find her father’s body, that would change.

Susan Duncan was in her lab with several of her staff when Rachel strode in, heels clicking loudly on the tiled floor. Heads turned towards her.

“Rachel.” said Susan cagily, “Feeling better, I take it?”  
“Oh, yes, mother. Much better, thank you.” Rachel replied with exaggerated politeness. She clasped her hands in front of her. “What are we working on today?”  
Susan continued to eye her with suspicion, but answered the question anyway.

“We’re going over the results from the latest round of tests from the Project Leda subjects. It’s extremely positive.”  
“Mmm.” Rachel trailed a finger along the benchtop. “Are you going to explain what Project Leda _is_ , mother? _Some_ of us have been left out of the loop.”

“Oh, honestly, Rachel…” said Susan, exasperated, then gasped as Rachel spun, grabbed the nearest lab worker, and froze him solid. She smiled brightly and smoothed down her blouse.

“You were saying…?” She looked at the shocked faces and rolled her eyes. “Oh, he’ll thaw out. Unless someone knocks him over, so be careful now.”  
Susan swallowed, and began to talk.

 

Rachel listened with narrowed eyes. Clones. They’d made clones. Of Helena. Dr Suchong had hoped to replicate whatever genetic advantages she had possessed to make a fresh batch of Little Sisters - ones that produced much more ADAM. Little girls with gold in their bellies. Rachel looked at photographs of the clones. They all had golden eyes, and they all had blonde hair. She twined a lock of her own hair around a finger speculatively. Even her hair colour wasn’t really her own.

Despite the clones being only a year or so old, they looked older. Rachel didn’t have to be told that they’d used the ADAM to speed up the growth process - the production line had been interrupted and the sooner these little ADAM factories were out in the streets collecting more, the better. Susan explained that they hoped to halt the aging process once the girls reached the physical status of a five year old.

_They don’t want another Helena that they can’t control,_ thought Rachel. _Keep them young, keep them productive, keep them compliant._

After Susan had told her everything, Rachel picked up the pile of folders, tucking all the loose papers back in. She tapped her nails on the top for a moment, then looked around the room.

“Who would be the second in charge here? Someone who can answer my questions if my mother,” her eyes didn’t leave Susan, “is...unavailable.”

A woman with dark hair and a nervous expression raised her hand.

Rachel nodded at her. “Good.” she said, “You come with me.” The woman glanced at Susan, then followed Rachel to the door. Rachel handed her the files and asked her to wait outside. She turned back to face her mother, smiling pleasantly. She could feel the heat inside, waiting for it’s chance.

“I think it’s time that I took over this project,” she stated.

Susan gave a short, disbelieving laugh, but Rachel silenced her with a withering look.

“I’m a child of neolution, who better to do this work?” She saw Susan flinch. “Yes, mother, I know. I know about everything. I was born into this. You made me into a _weapon._ And then you refused to aim me at anything. It’s my time now.” Rachel’s eyes, growing more silvery every second, swept around the lab. Large but enclosed, thick walls, no windows, no sprinkler system.

Susan spoke with determination but the tremor in her voice betrayed her fear.

“I will _not_ allow you to - “

Rachel cut her off. “It’s not up to you anymore, mother.” She placed her palms together, as if offering up a prayer to herself, then held her hands out, fingers reaching toward the group of people in lab coats, who had all moved to the wall furthest away from her.

“Rachel!” Susan shouted desperately. But it was too late. Fire bloomed around the room and screams filled the air. Rachel’s face was expressionless but her eyes shone silver. Flames erupted from her hands in bursts, ensuring the desks and cabinets were all alight. Stepping back, Rachel opened the door behind her, then laid down a series of fire traps in front of the doorway. Anyone crossing them would be incinerated immediately.

She stepped out without looking back and the door clicked shut behind her. Placing a hand over the lock, sparks flew and the lock jammed.

 

The white-coat was still waiting for her, Rachel was pleased to see, even though she was plainly terrified. She took the top folder off the pile in the woman’s unresisting hands, and opened it to examine the photograph again. She could see traces of Sarah in the faces, but something would have to be done about the hair...

Rachel sighed and replaced the folder on the pile. The woman looked at her questioningly.

“Put those in my mother’s...in _my_ office. And I need someone to go to the Artemis Suites and collect my belongings.”

 

“Yes, Miss Duncan! I’ll organize that right away, Miss Duncan.”

Rachel waved her hand in a _shoo_ -ing gesture and the woman scurried off.

 

A small smile stole across her face. DYAD was hers now.

And she had work to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes, I guess Susan did die in a lab fire after all!  
> This turned into another longish chapter, but Rachel did have a lot to do! Hopefully the next two chapters will be up soon(ish). I confess, I've been replaying Bioshock since I got the remastered versions for my birthday and so have been _slightly_ distracted! But also reminded of all the little Rapture touches, like the Public Address System - 
> 
> Jim: "What's the matter, Mary? You look like you could use a boost!"  
>  Mary: "I don't feel so great. I'm dizzy, I'm nauseous, and sometimes I'm even seeing things that aren't there."  
> Jim: "That's just the Plasmid blues, Mary. You just need to slow down a bit on the splicing. Before you know it, you'll be as right as rain. Remember, a smart Splicer is a happy Splicer."


	25. Lives. Lived. Will live. ~ ~ Dies. Died. Will die.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old friends are reunited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack - Good Morning Heartache by Billie Holiday
> 
>  
> 
> *please to look at this wonderful fanart made for me by the very awesome modelcitizenthespian, I am a very lucky writer!
> 
> http://modelcitizenthespian.tumblr.com/post/152119099771/another-tribute-to-katsadakos-lovely-orphan  
> http://modelcitizenthespian.tumblr.com/post/149990299666/katsadako-heres-a-tribute-to-your-orphan-shock  
> http://modelcitizenthespian.tumblr.com/post/150032240656/katsadako-heres-more-everyone-should-read?is_related_post=1

_Rapture_ \- **1966**

 

After picking up the second yellow bottle, Sarah knew she was on the right track. The tunnels had a familiarity now - she was close to the safe room.  Some of the walls had crayon drawings marking the way - what looked like a round egg with arms and legs was a Big Daddy, there were simple fish, and flowers, and someone had used a blue crayon to draw jellyfish. Sarah smiled, tracing the drawings with her finger. If she remembered correctly...yes, around this corner. There was a drawing of two little stick girls holding hands, one with brown curls and one with bright yellow. They’d written their names underneath in red. SARAH + HELENA. The letters were as bright as the day they’d drawn them. She thought about the matching drawings on her bedroom wall at home in England - that had been her only way of communicating for a while, as she tried to cope with the trauma of being separated from her beloved sister.

And now she was so close to being with her again. Sarah moved forward, passing another vent opening when she heard the scream. Her head snapped around at the sound, instantly recognizing it as a Little Sister. She shuffled backwards and put her face up to the vent, peering out into a paved area dotted with trees in low garden beds.

She could see a splicer dragging a length of pipe along the ground. He was laughing - not a crazed, monstrous laugh, but a good humoured chuckle - as he closed in on the Little Sister. The girl backed up, turning her head this way and that, her high, panicked voice reaching Sarah.

“Why can’t I go home! I wanna go home! Why can’t I go home!”

“Shit!” Sarah muttered. She shrugged off the backpack, took out the gun, and gently pushed the vent covering outwards. Lowering herself down to the floor quietly, she kept low and moved quickly to a wall between her and the splicer, peering around to make sure he still had his back to her. Double-checking the safety was off, Sarah took a few deep breaths. She’d never actually had to shoot a person before. Back when she and Helena had had a Big Daddy to protect then, they would shout encouragement at him when he took on splicers, and laugh when they were ripped apart by his giant drill. But now?

She squeezed her eyes shut briefly and tried to stop her leg from jittering. Then she stood up, swung around the wall and fired.

The shots rang out in the open space and hit the splicer in the back, three shots. Always shoot in threes, Maty had told her. More likely to hit, easier to keep count of your bullets. The chuckle turned into a roar as he spun around and lunged towards her jerkily.

Sarah kept the gun steady and pulled the trigger again, one two three. The splicer staggered, then _leapt,_ swinging the pipe at her head. It hit - nothing. There was a flash of yellow and a cracking noise, and Sarah was still standing there. The splicer looked confused for a moment, swinging the pipe back again and again hitting the invisible shield.

_Thank you Dr Lutece_ thought Sarah, and raised the gun again and shot the splicer in the face. At this close range, it did the job.

Sarah waved her hand back and forth curiously. She couldn’t feel anything, and yet -. She shrugged. Science. She’d never been that great at it.

The Little Sister clapped and skipped over to her. “You made an angel!” She raised her syringe, then plunged it into the dead splicers abdomen. Sarah looked down at her and frowned.

“Violet?” she asked.

The little girl giggled. “No! I’m Jasmine!”

“Oh.” The girl looked almost exactly like the other one. Sarah knelt down and looked closer at the girl’s face. Same golden eyes, of course, same dark hair...wait. Now that she was near the girl and under better lighting, she could see the fair roots at the scalp. Puzzled, she sat back on her heels. Someone had been dyeing their hair? Why?

“Are you all named after flowers?” she asked the girl, watching her face.

“I’m a flower?’ The little girls rapt expression added to Sarah’s nagging feeling of familiarity.

She laughed and said, “No, but there is a flower called Jasmine. It has a very pretty smell.”

“Oh.” The girl considered this. “I named myself after the pretty lady on the wall!”

Ah. Sarah remembered the posters - Jasmine Jolene. They’d seemed so glamorous to her younger eyes - but then, everything had. Now she had a better understanding of what the words ‘exotic dancer’ and “Andrew Ryan’s favourite gal” meant, and Jasmine was probably long dead, the poor thing. She patted the girl on the shoulder.

“She was very pretty,” she said comfortingly. The girl smiled back at her trustingly.  Sarah blinked. She reached out and cupped the girl's chin in her hand and lifted her face to the light. Violet’s face had been grubby and the tunnels dimly lit, but Sarah knew there had been something strangely familiar about her. She looked - they both looked -like Helena. Like Sarah too, she guessed.

_What the hell…_ Her train of thought was arrested by a distant scream, reminding her to keep moving. She grabbed the Little Sister under the arms and hoisted the girl onto her hip, keeping her shooting hand free. “Time to go, Jasmine,” she whispered, jogging back to the vent. She lifted the girl up into the opening, then climbed up after her, pulling the cover closed after her. She paused, trying to think, but was distracted by the arrival of another splicer outside. She drew back, hearing Jasmine give a little whimper behind her. “It’s okay, little monkey,” Sarah whispered. “We’re safe in here.” This splicer wore a ragged dress and a bird mask with a pointed beak. She carried a pistol and when she saw the body of the first splicer, cried out- ‘Hey fella, dontcha wanna take a walk with me?” A lack of response on the corpses part made the splicer give it a kick, then walk off in a huff, muttering about _no second chances, not anymore_.

Sarah watched her as she passed right by the vent.

Craning her neck around to look at Jasmine, the resemblance to Helena struck her as obvious now, but...how? Surely...she was struck by an awful idea. Surely Helena hadn’t had children down here? She was only eighteen, and these girls were at least five or six years old. Sarah felt sick to her stomach. Was that what Suchong had taken her for? Some sort of disgusting breeding program? Sarah hadn’t thought she’d ever be able to hate Suchong more than she already did. But now she had to stop herself from punching the metal wall and pretending it was his face. She realised her fingernails were digging into her palms and she relaxed her hands.

“Jasmine, hey, we’re close to the safe-room, yeah? Do you know where I mean? Where your Big Sister lives?”

The girl's face lit up. “Yes! Big Sister keeps us safe! Sometimes I sing to her when she cries!” She looked proud of herself, and Sarah’s heart flipped over. Helena, crying. Her own eyes welled up, and she impulsively hugged the little girl.

“Thank you for looking after her,” she murmured. “Here.” She rummaged around and found a biscuit to give to the girl, who took it with a big smile and then shoved it into her mouth. Sarah shook her head. She’d have to teach them how to take bites of things.

The two of them crawled on, past more openings, past more drawings. The drawings had gotten more plentiful and covered all the inner surfaces of the tunnel now. It looked like Helena had taught all of them the stick figure school of art, and lines of little stick girls holding hands were everywhere. There were only a few Big Daddy drawings. Sarah patted Jasmine on the arm and asked, “Did you have Mr Bubbles looking after you, before?”

Jasmine shook her head, pressing her lips together tightly.

“Hmm.” Then she remembered how Violet had talked. “What was your name before you called yourself Jasmine? Do you remember?”

The girl stuck her bottom lip out and nodded. Then she mumbled something. Sarah made out “Leda’ and something about silver. _Who is this damn silver lady? Were the girls her daughters? But then why do they look like Helena? What the hell happened down here?_

They reached the end of the tunnel and here there was a different drawing - another stick figure but much taller than the others and topped with a red circle. Sarah tapped it.

“Hey, who’s this? Is this Big Sister?”

Jasmine nodded. “That means we’re home,” she announced, and disappeared around the corner. Sarah followed, and found a vent opening, the cover already pushed open. She stuck her head out and looked around.

The safe-room was almost exactly as she remembered it. Some of the bunks had been moved but otherwise… She slid down into the room and stood with her back to the wall for a moment, looking around. There were several Little Sisters, napping or playing or reading in various spots, and for a moment Sarah felt like she had stepped back through time. The girls closest to her looked up curiously and without fear. She smiled at them, gave a little wave. One jumped up, holding a piece of paper and came over to Sarah, taking her hand and waving the drawing at her.

“Look!” she said, “It’s a shark!” The drawing was indeed a shark, or at least a fish shape with a big triangle on top. Sarah took the paper in her hands and said “Wow! That's a good shark!” She handed it back. “You like sharks? My sister likes sharks.”

The little girl nodded. “They smile like this!” She bared her teeth in a grimace and moved her hands like she was swimming. “Rawrrr!” Sarah crouched down and grinned back. This girl, too, looked like Helena. And where _was_ Helena?

Sarah got up again and wandered around the rooms. She found a plate in the kitchen and put what remained of the chocolate biscuits on it, placing it on a small table for the girls to help themselves. They all seemed remarkably nonplussed with a stranger walking in and making herself at home, she thought to herself, although - they _do_ know my face, I guess. The desk in the corner was clean and there were fresh flowers in some old lab equipment. Mostly fresh. She picked up the Big Daddy doll and held it to her chest for a moment, thinking again about Mister Bubbles and hoping he was at peace.

Maty had explained so much about Rapture to Sarah before she died - how the Big Daddy’s were really men, mostly criminals or other ‘undesirables’, (such as people that Andrew Ryan needed out of the way), brainwashed, reprogrammed and grafted into diving suits with various mechanical parts and weapons added on. How the pair-bond was formed from a combination of mental programming, genetic manipulation, and liberal use of pheromones.

How she, Brigid Tenenbaum, had originally discovered the sea slugs containing what they had called ADAM, a wondrous substance that had so many scientific and medical applications, that could have done so much good in the world. How she had also been responsible for the Little Sister program beginning. How she, much like Suchong, had been more concerned with results than ethics. How she had been repulsed by the Little Sisters...until she realised she was actually truly repulsed by her own actions.  

_When you and Helena came to me, my little sestras, I knew there was something special about you two. And once I would have exploited that, like Suchong wanted to. But instead, I decided to try to make amends...to seek викуп*_

She had also spent hours theorising about what the long-term effects of ADAM on Helena’s body would be, how it could affect her physiology - Sarah was prepared to find her sister changed. She didn’t care, she just wanted her back.

Sarah sighed, replacing the doll on the desk, and picked up the photograph behind the accu-vox. It showed her, Helena, and Rachel - a copy of the one she had by her bed at home. She traced first her sister’s face with a finger, then Rachel’s. Where was she now?

Hidden just out of sight in the tunnel, a pair of glowing golden eyes watched Sarah hungrily. Helena wanted nothing more than to leap across the room and wrap herself around her sister, but… She had feared nothing for years now, she had no need to. But she was terribly afraid that Sarah would take one look at the monster she had become and run away from her. Helena pressed her lips together tightly and fiddled nervously with her helmet clasps.

Then she took a deep breath and slithered her way out of the vent.

Sarah heard the noise behind her and turned to see a figure squatting on the floor, long limbs folded. It appeared to be clad in some sort of diving suit that used to be white but was now dark with dirt and blood; there were leather straps along the arms and legs keeping the baggy suit streamlined. The helmet was round, with one panel at the front which shone with a green glow. There were black fishermans boots, which the figure was pulling off, wriggling their toes as they were freed.

Sarah was frozen where she stood, holding her breath as she waited for the helmet to be removed, one leg jumping slightly.

The figure stood up to it’s full height, and Sarah took an involuntary half-step backwards, immediately feeling guilty about it. The figure towered above everybody else in the room. Hands reached up and pulled the helmet off, revealing a mass of blonde curls and a pair of golden eyes that darted around nervously before coming to rest on Sarah. Helena bit her lip, then gave Sarah a tremulous smile.

Sarah’s heart gave a huge **thump** in her chest and her voice cracked as she said, “Helena?”

The girl nodded.

“Sarah….Sarah, you came back.” Her voice was unsteady also. Inside, Helena felt like she was going to burst, her heart was beating so fast and so loud, like it knew it’s other half was right there, across the room.

Helena moved carefully, hanging the helmet on a pipe, then took a small step towards Sarah, as if not to startle her. But Sarah crossed the space left between them in a heartbeat, throwing her arms around her sister, nestling her head under Helena’s chin. “‘lena, ‘lena, I found you. Oh god, ‘lena, I missed you so much,” she was crying now, “I’m so sorry we left you, ‘lena, it was all such a mess…”

Helena rested her cheek on her sister's hair, letting her tears fall and with them the last vestiges of fear that Sarah wouldn’t love her anymore. She smoothed her hands up and down her back, whispering _shhh, Sarah, it’s okay, you’re here now, you’re here, you’re here…_ A sudden rush of euphoria filled her and she picked Sarah up and spun around, laughing through her tears.

Sarah was laughing too, squealing as her feet flew out. “Ahhh, you’re making me dizzy, ‘lena!”

The twirling twins slowed down and Helena let go. Sarah slid to the floor and they grabbed each other's hands and just grinned at each other for a moment.

They realised that the Little Sisters had gathered around with varying expressions of curiosity and excitement. Helena beamed at them, and said, “This is my sister, Sarah. She’s been up topside, and now we’re all going to go home with her! Just like I told you.”

There was a ragged chorus of ‘Hello Sarah’, one girl piping up with _she gave me a biscuit!_ Another said _bubbles and sunshine, bubbles and rain!_ in a sing-song voice. Another tugged at Helena’s hand and whispered in her ear when she bent down. Helena nodded at her, and she ran across the room and started up the record player. The slightly scratchy sound of ‘Beyond the Sea’ poured out of the flared trumpet speaker, and the twins twirled in a circle for a few minutes, giggling like they were nine years old again.

Then they all began chatting excitedly, and Sarah and Helena sat down on the floor in the middle, still holding hands tight, and started to talk.

After Sarah had filled Helena in on the basics of what had happened the day they were separated, told her about Maty’s illness and death, about Mrs S, who had proved to be a caring mother who ‘took no shit’, as Sarah put it, (Helena giggling at the rude word), about how she’d gone off the rails a bit after Maty died (Helena squeezing both her hands and blinking back tears), about life on the surface, how much light there was, what the sky was like.

After all of this, she looked around at the girls, and said softly, “Now, ‘lena, tell me about the girls. Where did they come from?”

Helena shrugged. “From DYAD. They started coming out into Rapture again...hmm...a while after I left there. Maybe a year?”

“But ‘lena...why do they all look like you? Like us? I mean - you can see it too, yeah?”

Golden eyes blinked owlishly at her.

“Y..es.” Helena answered. “I thought I was imagining it, at first. Because я сумував за тобою* so much. But then - I heard things. All the tunnels into DYAD are blocked up now,” she smirked, “but before, I could go in and listen.”

“Quiet like church mice.” Sarah said, matching Helena’s smirk. Helena nodded and squeezed Sarah’s hand.

Helena leant closer, and whispered, “They made copies of me. The- “ she waved her other hand dismissively, “...white-coats. Scientists. They needed to replace the Little Sisters that left with you and Maty. Everything they did needed ADAM. So…” she shrugged again.

Sarah looked at the girls around the room and shook her head. “Clones?” she said quietly. “I’d say it was unbelievable, but look at where we are!” She slapped herself in the forehead. “Ahh, I almost forgot. Who is this silver lady the girls have mentioned? They seem scared of her. Is she the one who made them?”

Helena looked at her, confused. “You...don’t know? Sarah, the silver lady is Rachel. She must know you’re here, she has eyes everywhere. Except here. This is still a safe place.”

Sarah gaped back at her, then with impeccable timing, there was a loud crash from the back area, where there used to be a door up into the Mercury Suites. Helena had blocked it up some time back, leaving the vent as the only entrance. Now it sounded like the door was open again.

All the Little Sisters jumped to their feet and turned their heads to Helena, who put a finger to her lips, then pointed at the vent. The girls moved swiftly, clambering up into the tunnel one by one, like a well-rehearsed fire drill.

There was silence, then Sarah and Helena heard the clicking of heels.

A figure in a fitted white dress with sleek blonde hair rounded the corner, followed by a small shape who Sarah recognised as Violet when she stepped into the light.

“Well.” said Rachel in a voice that balanced perfectly between polite and venomous. “Isn’t this nice. The twins are back together.” She ignored Helena, gazing at Sarah unblinkingly.

“Rachel?” Sarah said uncertainly. “It’s really you?” She was still trying to process the information that Rachel was the fearsome ‘silver lady’; that Rachel had been down here this entire time. That the girl who had been her closest friend, apart from her sister, had become something to be feared, was staring at her with a hungry look in her eyes. She shook her head, thoughts swirling like water down a drain. “Rachel, what happened down here? After I left?”

Rachel sniffed. “After you abandoned me? Abandoned _us_?” She gestured at Helena, but still didn’t look at her. Sarah heard Helena scoff softly beside her, and she squeezed her hand comfortingly. Rachel’s eyes noted their joined hands, then flicked back up to Sarah’s face, looking noticeably silvery. Sarah got the feeling that there was a storm coming - she didn’t know how, considering they were at the bottom of the ocean, but it was like the wind changed and they were in a circle of deadly calm.

“Sarah.” Rachel’s voice was pleasant now, hands clasped loosely. She oozed sincerity as she continued. “After you...left, a lot of things changed in DYAD. I had to...take a larger role, assume responsibility. Ensure that -” She finally looked at Helena, glaring at her as she whispered something into Sarah’s ear. Sarah’s eyes widened, and she looked at Rachel with vague horror.

“You killed your parents? Bloody hell, Rachel!” _Although_ , she added to herself, _I kinda get your mother, she was a right bitch._

Rachel’s mouth tightened and she shot an icy look at Helena, who merely stared down at her. Then she stuck her tongue out, and Rachel rolled her eyes. _Still a child,_ she thought.

She raised her hands, palms up, beseechingly. “My mother was _intent_ on recapturing Helena, to continue experimenting on her, to carry on Dr Suchong’s work. They already had the genetic material for their project, their…” she waved at Violet, who had made a beeline for the plate of cookies and was happily munching away, oblivious to the tension in the room. “Their _special_ gatherers, but they weren’t satisfied. They wanted to keep her locked away, Sarah, and I knew you wouldn’t have wanted that.”

Sarah could feel herself wavering. She wanted to believe that Rachel had had Helena’s best interests at heart, but she hadn’t forgotten how jealous she used to be either. She jerked her chin at Rachel and asked, “What about your dad?”

Rachel’s eyes lowered. When she raised them again, they shone with tears, and her voice held an undertone of sadness.

“My father...he told me that he and my mother had experimented on me since I was a _child._ That they’d been feeding ADAM into my body for _years_ without my knowledge. That they’d kept it a secret to _protect_ me. I left DYAD and nearly _died_ because my father - _both_ of them - had made me into an ADAM addict and I didn’t even know…” Her voice trailed off, and she dabbed at the corners of her eyes, still full of tears that somehow managed not to fall. She glanced at Sarah slyly, and saw that she was clearly struggling with what to believe.

“So, I...took extreme measures, I know. But I was confused and angry and everything had been _terrible_ since you left, and I needed to set things right. To steer DYAD in a different direction. Sarah, I wanted to find a way to cure Helena, to _fix_ her…”

Sarah felt Helena stiffen beside her. “I do not need _fixing,_ ” she muttered. Sarah couldn’t help but wonder now about Helena on the surface - how would the world react to a woman six feet tall with glowing golden eyes and what amounted to superpowers? Maty probably could have formulated a cure, but…

“And did you?” Sarah asked point-blank. “Find a cure?”

Rachel nodded, eyes wide, and she took a step towards them. “I believe so. I found Dr Tenenbaums notes for the Little Sister Antidote, and worked from there.”

This much was true, although her reasons for curing Helena were much less altruistic than she wanted Sarah to believe. Rachel had spent the last four years researching and experimenting, using the remaining DYAD staff as test subjects. She believed she _did_ have a Big Sister Antidote, something that should return Helena to a normal girl again….and no longer a threat to Rachel. She had also discovered - other things. Rachel arranged her face in an honest, open expression, with a hint of pleading.

Sarah sighed. “I want to believe you, Rachel. I really do. But you’ve got all these little girls acting like you’re the boogeyman, or somethin’ and you’ve been letting them wander about with no protection.”

“Oh, _that.”_ Rachel thought fast. It was barely a lie anyway.  “I knew Helena would be looking over them, the Big Sister replacing the Big Daddy. The first few girls did have them, but once they were put down, we had no resources to make more.” She took another step closer. “Sarah. Please. Let me help.” Another step. “ I _have_ missed you terribly, you know.”

Sarah’s shoulders slumped. She had missed Rachel too. In a less intense and different way than she’d missed Helena, but she had missed her. In a flash of embarrassment, she remembered the early teen crush she’d had on Grace Kelly - looking at Rachel now, she knew where that had come from. But could she trust her?

Helena whispered, _I do not trust her,_ picking up Sarah’s thoughts.

Rachel took another step. “Helena, I know I said terrible things to you, hurtful things. I...I’m sorry. I was young and frightened and I lashed out at you. Can’t we put it behind us and be friends again?”

Helena tilted her head and stared at Rachel. “You’ve done something to your head, like you did with that little one. Made it so I can’t read you anymore.” Her eyes glowed like fire. “What are you hiding now, Rachel?”

Sarah snapped, “ _What_ did you do to that little girl?” She started to step forward but Helena kept a grip on her hand, and pulled her back effortlessly. _Careful_ she breathed.

Rachel looked at them, the sincere and honest expression fading, and she gave a small smile.

“Well. I had hoped we could come to terms, but it seems not. I’m terribly sorry, Sarah.” With that, she shot an arc of ice at Sarah’s feet, encasing her up to her knees.

“Oi!” shouted Sarah, “What the bloody hell, Rachel!”

Helena quickly knelt, bringing her fist down on the ice, turning her back on Rachel for a split second.

It was enough. Rachel grabbed Helena from behind, flicking her wrist and placing her palm on Helena’s temple. An intense golden light began to shine from her hand, spreading to Helena, and down her body, until the two of them were engulfed in a shining aura. Sarah had grabbed Helena’s hands again but they loosened their grip on Sarah’s, as if her muscles had lost their strength. Her mouth opened but no sound came out. Her eyes found Sarah’s, terrified and pleading.

“Helena!” Sarah shouted, “‘lena!” She struggled in the ice, feeling helpless and scared, like it was all happening again. It had started to crack around her feet where Helena had punched it, and she kept jerking her legs back and forth. If she could just reach the backpack...the gun.

Rachel’s voice cut through the light like a knife.

“Did you really think you could just waltz back through Rapture, and leave me behind again, Sarah? _Now you’ll see how it feels_.”

The golden light around them intensified, as the glow faded from Helena’s eyes. Her mouth opened and closed, but Sarah couldn’t hear her voice. Rachel’s eyes were solid silver, shining at her like terrible twin stars. She was grinning as the golden light traveled down her body as well.

Sarah desperately moved her feet in their ice casing, feeling the cold start to give and break up. Finally, she managed to get one leg free. Then pulled the other one after her, her boot still encased in a block of ice. She grabbed the backpack, unzipped it, and urgently dumped the contents on the floor, scrambling for the gun, checking the ammunition. She spun around and aimed at the light.

It took up an area roughly the size of a bunk bed, if you could spin a bunk bed on it’s axis. The golden glow was shot through with silver now, and a strange rushing sound, like wind and whispers, filled the room. She could still just see her sister and Rachel. Helena was lying in Rachel’s arms, conscious but seemingly unable to move.

“Let go of her!” Sarah screamed at the swirling light. “Let her go!” She pointed the gun at Rachel and released the safety.

Rachel’s grin grew wider. “You’re not going to shoot me, Sarah,” she said smugly, her voice clear, and she wrapped her other arm around the girl in her lap. The light shone brighter and brighter, and started to swallow the both of them up.

Sarah roared in frustration, and fired the gun in desperation into the glare. She could just make out the silver of Rachel’s left eye bloom into a red spiral before the light became blinding, and the two figures start to fade.

“No!” Sarah screamed and ran forward, leaping into the light. For a moment, she floated, and thought she heard Helena call her name, then she started to fall, hair rushing upwards past her face. She closed her eyes and waited for the crash.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *redemption  
> *I missed you
> 
> For once, I include the entirely appropriate song lyrics. The final chapter/epilogue will be up in the next few days. Thank you all for reading, I love you all!
> 
> Good morning, heartache, you ole gloomy sight  
> Good morning, heartache, thought we'd said goodbye last night  
> I turned and tossed until it seemed you had gone  
> But here you are with the dawn
> 
> Wish I'd forget you  
> but you're here to stay  
> It seems I met you  
> When my love went away  
> Now everyday I start by saying to you  
> Good morning, heartache, what's new?
> 
> Stop haunting me now  
> Can't shake you, no how  
> Just leave me alone  
> I've got those Monday blues  
> Straight through Sunday blues
> 
> Good morning, heartache, here we go again  
> Good morning, hearache, you're the one who knew me when  
> Might as well get used to you hangin around  
> Good morning, heartache, sit down


	26. Epilogue - In our story, Rapture was only the beginning...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarah gets a job offer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soundtrack -  
> \- A Picture of Her Face by Scott Joplin

**_New York_** \- **1912**

 

Sarah woke up like she was crawling out of a deep dark hole.

 

“Whaa-” she mumbled, lifting her head and looking around blearily. The light that snuck  in through the slats of the blind made her head ache even more. She rolled backwards on her desk chair, and the loud sound of glass bottles clinking together made her wince. She spun the chair around - slowly - and directed her gaze at the floor.

 

Several empty bourbon bottles were strewn around her desk, and a half dozen unopened ones were lined up on top of the filing cabinets. For a long befuddled moment, Sarah stared at the bottles and then around the office, like she had never seen any of it before. What the bloody hell had happened last night? She looked down at herself - trousers, shirt (wrinkled), vest, tie (unloosened). _shite, gotta stop sleeping in my clothes..._ a bandage around her right hand was grubby, but not bloodstained.

 

Standing up, Sarah grabbed at her head as it flared with pain, then shuffled around the desk and opened the office door. There was a frosted glass panel with black lettering and she squinted at the words.

 

                SARAH MANNING

                           〰

     INVESTIGATIONS INTO MATTERS

        BOTH PUBLIC & PRIVATE

 

She frowned. Something wasn’t right. She still didn’t know what happened last night. And she was getting flashes of what must have been a hell of a dream. Chased by monsters, saved by an angel, some sort of city under the sea collapsing into a blindingly bright light. _Bloody stupid,_ Sarah muttered to herself.

 

Closing the door, she poked around the office, finding a tiny kitchen and a bathroom off a short hallway. No bedroom. _I guess I sleep on the couch._ At least she’d (or someone) had the sense to set up the coffee-maker before passing out on the desk. She rinsed a mug out in the sink and poured coffee into it, drank half of it, then gagged and bent over the sink. She coughed up what looked like mucus but was a bright iridescent yellow, stared at it in mild horror, _what the hell?_ and then drank the rest of the coffee. Refilling the mug, Sarah made her way back out to the desk and sat down again.

 

There was a photo of two young girls on the desk, in an ornate silver frame. Sarah frowned at it until she recalled it was her, and. Her and...she dropped her head into her hands. Why couldn’t she remember? She sighed.

 

“Right then” she said out loud, then pressed her fingers to her temple as the sound of her own voice pierced her head. Whatever she’d drank last night, she hoped she’d remember to never drink it again. Papers were scattered over the desktop, and she gathered them up in a pile, then started flicking through them. Old cases, it looked like. Missing kids, cheating spouses, suspicious deaths, the usual kind of fare... Her head shot up again ( _ow_ ) at the sound of someone banging their fist against the door.

 _Jeez, alright, alright_ she mumbled, taking a deep breath before rising to her feet ( _ow)_ and shuffling over to the door. Two shadows loomed behind the frosted glass.

 

Sarah paused with her hand on the doorknob.

“Who is it?” she called out in a hoarse voice, “What do you want?”

“We have a proposition for you, Ms Manning.” said a woman’s voice.

“A missing persons case.” said a man’s voice.

 

A job. Well, alright then. Something to take her mind off...everything. She cast a look around the office, at the bottles, the papers on the floor, and shrugged. She opened the door to find a pair of redheads looking at her curiously, then giving each other a sidewards glance. Both had their hands clasped in front of them and wore polite if somewhat familiar expressions.

“I am Rosalind Lutece, Ms Manning, and this is my brother, Robert Lutece,” he inclined his head respectfully, “We would like you to take a case for us. A girl has gone missing, and her family,” Rosalind cocked her head to the side, eyes studying Sarah closely, while Robert continued the sentence, “are very concerned. They are willing to pay very handsomely to have this resolved as soon as possible.”

“We’re sure this will assist you greatly in paying off those troublesome debts.”

Memories dropped into Sarah’s mind like stone slabs. Debts. Gambling debts. Of course. She had...debts.

“Bring us the girl…”

“...and wipe away the debt.”

 

Robert handed Sarah an envelope.

The pair - _twins, yeah? They have to be twins..._ spoke in tandem, as if the words were all coming from the same place, just through different mouths.

“This contains all the pertinent information…”

“...and a substantial advance payment…”

“...and the family would like you to begin right away.”

“Are you quite well, Ms Manning?”

“You look rather pale.”

 

Sarah turned the envelope over in her hands, then squinted up at the Luteces. There was something...peculiar about them.

“Have we met somewhere before?” she said, trying to grasp a memory that eluded her like a slippery silver fish. “You look...familiar.” And both rather attractive, now she thought about it.

 

They looked at each other with an indecipherable expression, then back at her.

“I’m afraid not, Ms Manning…”

Robert handed her a folded white handkerchief.

“...we have not met _you_ before.”

 

Sarah raised her eyebrows at the handkerchief, and winced as a sharp pain stabbed her temples. Then she realised her nose had started bleeding, swore and held the lavender-scented linen against her upper lip.

 

“Thank -” she faltered, confused, “ - you?”

 

Rosalind gave a shallow bow.

“Don’t mention it, Ms Manning. Now…”

“..we must be off. Time is of the essence…”

“... _of_ the essence or _is_ the essence?”

“Why can’t it be both?”

Their gently quarreling voices faded as they turned and walked off down the hall, arm in arm.

 

Sarah stared at the envelope. She opened it, counted the notes inside and gave a silent whistle. There was a piece of paper with directions, longitude and latitude, and scrawled diagrams, or pictures. She squinted at them but it didn’t help. There was no description of the girl, apart from ‘Eighteen years old. Blonde.’ _real helpful_ , she muttered to herself.

Her nose had stopped bleeding, and the handkerchief was bright red. Looking at the blood made her feel queasy again. She tossed it in the trashcan and pulled her hair back off her face.

 

_Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt._

 

She went to pour another coffee, then shrugged on her coat, and holstered her gun. She had a lost girl to bring home.

Time to get to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well...that's it, folks!
> 
> Just kidding, obviously there will be more - part 2 of OrphanShock will be along presently. I'll be taking a bit of a break to finish replaying Bioshock 2, and Infinite, and get the story figured out...but I've been thinking about this for a quite a while, so it shouldn't be too far away. 
> 
> Once again, thank you for reading, for giving kudos, and especially for commenting <3 <3
> 
> [This is basically what Sarah is dressed like here](http://satsuki-chan.tumblr.com/post/132837439545/today-i-took-a-break-from-being-elizabeth-decided)
> 
> (if that link isn't working, please let me know! also please tell me how to link stuff!)

**Author's Note:**

> nemaye - ‘no’
> 
> soundtrack - 'Beyond the Sea' by Bobby Darin  
> 'After You've Gone' by Jessy Carolina

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Aphrodite walks the halls, shimmering like a scalpel.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8373151) by [the_other_lutece_sister](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_other_lutece_sister/pseuds/the_other_lutece_sister)
  * [Good girls gather, gather, gather...](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9388052) by [the_other_lutece_sister](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_other_lutece_sister/pseuds/the_other_lutece_sister)




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